At the magnificent finale of Miss Botswana 2016 held on July 30’ 2016 Thata Kenosi was crowned as the winner. Thata defeated 12 other finalists to clinch the coveted title of Miss Botswana 2016. Apart from winning the title, Thata won P300 000 (US$ 28 000) worth of prizes. However, Thata’s win came with a wave of controversy.

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The controversy arose during the final question and answer segment. During the Q&A session, when Thata was asked about how to solve the problem of unemployment in her country, Thata answered, “‘Things’ such as ESP can be used to solve ‘things’ like unemployment”. That was all she answered and did not explain it any further. This made the crowd laugh out loud and shout ESP! ESP!

Thata Kenosi Miss Botswana 2016

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When Thata was announced as the winner, the crowd was shocked and many believed that the second runner-up, Phatsimo Boagi was much more deserving with her thoughtful answers. Later, the organizers came ahead to clarify their decision and said that they were looking for someone who possessed the qualities of a leader, with physical strength, intelligence, modelling ability and talent. They explained that the judging started during the beauty boot camp and it showed that Thata was the clear winner.

Thata expressed her joy after being crowned as the winner and said, “I don’t even know what to say. I would like to thank God, my supporters and people that I do not even know were supporting me through the journey. A lot of things do not come easy because of that, I work hard. Boot camp wasn’t easy for me, every time I hit rock bottom I picked myself up.”

Thata’s crowning didn’t go well with the crowd and they continued chanting when Thata Kenosi was being crowned. Thata Kenosi will now represent Botswana at the Miss World 2016 pageant.

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