03 Oct 2022

Daphney Muzila  has scooped the inaugural Mrs African World Botswana pageant crown at Cresta Lodge, Gaborone on October 1.

Evelyn Monakwane walked away with First princess sash while the second princess sash went to Rakgadi Mokaba.

Muzila who pocketed P20 000 will represent Botswana in Las Vegas, Nevada in the USA on December 10-17 this year.

In an interview after her crowning Muzila said she was overwhelmed with because she met challenges that were almost insurmountable but overcame them.

“I had to make extra time for the pageant and I fractured my ankle a month before the event. So I had to improvise on the stage. I actually walked in spite of my injury,” she said.

She said Mrs African World pageant was a Mrs World franchise, a pageant aiming to empower women and redefine the image of a woman as intelligent, bold and ambitious. She said the pageant was relevant because  married women could still follow  their dreams. 

“In fact we need the family’s support as a social structure to realise our dreams. There’s actually a paradigm shift in international pageants such as Miss Universe to include married women. This certainly demonstrates the relevance of this pageant,” said Muzila.

About her journey to Mrs World in December she said her strategy was to continue with her project - Love & war which she started seven months ago during her pageantry journey.

Asked how she would keep the Mrs African World Pageant alive and relevant in Botswana the queen said she would continue serving her community with dedication and also continue her journey for her own growth and development of other women. Contestants looked pretty went all out to impress the judges. 

They opened the stage with gym wear parade and they made it look spectacular through their dance moves one thing that caught the  audience attention. 

Their second parade which was inspired by Botswana diamonds, saw them donning different kinds of dresses with different colours.

All the eight women wore different dresses representing Botswana diamonds and the pink, black, yellow dresses were themed with Tswana names in honour of diamonds such as Sebilo,Sarona,Kgosigadi, Tsholofelo and Tlholego just to mention a few.

They also paraded on national costumes, swim wear and gowns. 

The Pageant Directors Jeniffer Setapenyane and Thato Monei made sure they led by example, as they were also dressed to the nines.

Setapenyane said she and  Monei started the pageant in 2019, and were granted the Mrs African World Botswana license by its holder in America, in 2021. She further said the pageant is an international charity-oriented brand that helped women to inspire others to tackle issues they faced while promoting cultural diversity too.

Monei thanked guests especially sponsors for supporting the pageant, which she said was aimed at encouraging married women to be comfortable in their own skin and inspire others.

She said the event started in February and they have been having activation events to prepare the women for the grand finale.

So far, Monei said they hosted women empowerment event, where one of the attendees walked away with P5 000 prize money through a competition that was run at the event. “We have had a personal branding and public speaking workshop with a public speaker Pako Moshaga to empower the contestants on public speaking, their image and presentation,” she said. 

The contestants also had a makeup tutorial by Nora Cosmetics and Modelling technique sessions, while etiquette and fashion choreography was done by One Segobye of Beauty Hub Academy.

To prepare for the grand finale she also said the aspiring beauty queens worked on their charity projects, which they presented during pre-judging session at the boot camp.

The chief Judge lawyer and pastor, Natasha Thompson said the 15 per cent judging of the grand finale they looked at the contestants stage presence and confidence,  modelling technique, energy and charisma and most importantly how they answered the questions such as being confident when they speak and knowing facts and remaining optimistic.

Some of the judges panelists included Botswana international model and professional makeup artist, Cendric Senna, director and founder of Beauty hub One Segobye and they also judged with an international guests Mrs Universe Zimbabwe 2021 Mrs Innocencia Nyathi who was given the lead to announce Muzila as the winner of the pageant. Ends