On 26th March 2017, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned as Miss South Africa 2017. Demi was a major favourite for the title, and her victory was pretty much expected. But, the finale result did come along with some criticism. There were few who called the pageant as a waste of time. As Demi-Leigh begins her reign, the relevance of the pageant has been questioned.
During the live broadcast, there were many South Africans who took to social media to put forward their point. While there were many who were in favour of the results, there were few who questioned the credibility of the pageant. Media Personality Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon, whose daughter was a finalist at the pageant, said that she thinks the result was only fair. “If they believe she is the best representative for us internationally, then so be it,” said Gerry.
The critics, on the other hand, questioned whether the winner was the representative of the country. One of the Tweets read, “I've always wanted to enter #MissSA2017 but it's for petite women. I feel like it's not a full representation of how SA women look”. Another read, “Next year we wanna see afros, cornrows, beads, albinos, make-up free girls. In fact we want it all! #MissSA2017”.
On the other hand, Demi-Leigh expressed her excitement on being crowned Miss South Africa, and said, “I vow to dedicate the next 365 days of my life to serve the people of South Africa, to be a voice to those who are afraid to, or cannot speak up and to represent the whole of our beautiful nation. I vow to listen, to be there, to help where I can and to recognise that we all want to be heard, we all want to be validated. I hear you, I see you, I am you!”
Demi also mentioned that she plans on changing the employment rate of women in South Africa, as only 50.9% of women are employed in South Africa, between the age group of 25-54. Demi is a final year B.Com business management and entrepreneurship student. She is also a part-time model at Boss Models and Vision Management.
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