Miss South Africa Organisation has fought back all the allegations, and rubbished it off as false. To brief you up on the topic, some of the contestants reportedly accused that Nel-Peters was groomed to win by being allocated a “Sun International-affiliated” trainer known as Werner Wessels. Werner is also said to be responsible for training former Miss South Africa winners, Ntandoyenkosi Kunene, Liesl Laurie, Melinda Bam and Rolene Strauss.
Now, Miss South Africa spokesperson Claudia Henkel has finally spoken up against all the allegations and said, “There was no favouritism. Not from me. Not from any of the judges. We did not share our scores or even discuss any of the contestants and the results were independently audited.” She further added, “Absolutely not. Demi-Leigh is a great ambassador and she deserves the crown and we need to understand how she must be feeling as a result of these allegations.” Claudia has labelled the accusations as "unfounded."
Claudia said that it was the first time the competition had faced such allegations. "In my opinion it is simply a case of sour grapes by those who did not win. It is understandable, because of the fierce competition, that some of the girls would be disappointed and that there might be some nastiness. I just hope that they can now come together and stand united as women trying to make a difference in South Africa,” said Claudia.
In fact, newly crowned Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh has also voiced her opinion on the rumours, and the beauty said that such things are hurtful. "It is painful to hear such rumours and read the reports that I did not win the competition fairly, when I know that I gave it my all," said Demi-Leigh. Demi added that although there were really difficult times and certain challenges during the competition, they were all treated fairly during the race for the ultimate crown in South Africa.
"The allegations that I engaged in personal interactions with the judges are unfounded. The only interactions I had with the judges were during the official judging sessions," she says.
The beauty queen added that each one of them were treated equally. Talking about the finalists, Demi said that she was hoping for the girls to be supportive. She says that this year's finalists were very strong young women, adding that people will always have something to say."I think people want to see you do good but never better than them but you need to work hard and stay focused," she concludes.
We totally agree that Demi-Leigh is the perfect choice for the crown, and there is absolutely no doubt in saying that she deserves the crown. What do you think?
