THE search is on for Miss Zimbabwe 2015 with organisers set to begin the hunt for the country’s most beautiful woman this month. According to the Miss Zimbabwe Trust which went through turbulent times last year, crowning three queens in a row, their hope this year is to have a mature queen. They have decided to do like their South African counterparts and allow those between 22 and 27 to contest from the usual 17 to 22 age limit.
“We want mature girls hence our decision to push the age limit up from 22 years to 27. Hopefully, the girl who will be crowned Miss Zimbabwe should at least be 27 or turning 27 by the time she goes to Miss World,” Miss Zimbabwe Trust chairperson, Marry Chiwenga said.
She said they would also be opening the national pageant to those in the diaspora so as to raise the pageants’ bar.
“I’ve had quite a lot of pageant organisers such as Miss Zimbabwe Asia asking if they can enter their contestants for Miss Zimbabwe.
“We have decided that anyone who is Zimbabwean, no matter where they are, be allowed to enter so as to raise the pageants’ bar.”
Chiwenga said this year’s contest would be rebranded to Miss World Zimbabwe as they strive to maintain Miss World standards.
“Our queen will be crowned as Miss World Zimbabwe as we adapt to what Miss World is doing. Other countries have branded their queens that way and we’re following suit,” Chiwenga said.
A date is still to be set for the pageant which will likely be held at Mermaid Pool Resort – a few kilometres out of Harare. It will once again be a black tie affair.
“The pageant will be held when it’s still warm. It will certainly be a black tie event as we can’t drop our standards from last year’s event. The venue is what will change but it’ll still be a glamorous event,” Chiwenga said.
Asked how they would avoid having to crown a lot of queens in one reign, Chiwenga said they hoped to get a probity queen.
“Some of these things are unavoidable but we hope that those who want to join Miss Zimbabwe this year are honest people. We usually don’t go into the contestants’ past but hope they’re mature enough to tell the truth about their situations to avoid what happened last year,” Chiwenga said.
Last year’s pageant was held after being postponed several times. It never rained but poured for organisers as the initial Miss Zimbabwe, Thabiso Phiri, resigned. Her replacement, Catherine Makaya, was dismissed because of her unbecoming behaviour as a queen.
A third queen, Tendai Hunda was crowned and is still the reigning queen.
Hunda, who represented the country at Miss World last month, is expected in office next week to officially start her duties as queen.
Chiwenga said she was impressed by Hunda’s performance at the world pageant and wished she had more time to prepare.
“Tendai’s performance at Miss World was good. She looked elegant and carried her dress well, something we hope the 2015 queen will emulate.”
