28 Sep 2023

 Young males aged between 18 and 35 have been implored to participate in the auditions of Mr Botswana pageantry to be held tomorrow  at Park View hotel in Maun.

Other auditions will be conducted in Kasane, Francistown, Palapye, Mahalapye and Gaborone on different dates to be announced.

 The grand finale will take place next year and the crowned king will have an opportunity to compete with others at Mr International scheduled for Panama next year.

Founded in 2006, Mr International is one of the major male beauty pageants in Singapore aimed to empower men to inspire the next generation to serve and be active in the community.

However, Mr Botswana pageantry was started by the director of Mr Botswana Company, Ms Lekedzani Mokoloba who was crowned as ‘Mother of the Nation’ in 2021 after participating in the married women pageant. Speaking during the launch of Mr Botswana brand in Maun on September 27, Ms Mokoloba said as part of her project as the reigning queen, she found it fit to resuscitate Mr Botswana in an effort to empower and mould a boy-child into a responsible citizen.

 The top 20 contestants, she said, would be given scholarships at Gaborone University College of Law and Professional Studies hence she urged young men to come forth and try their luck to improve their lives.

 The initiative would not only focus on the pageantry but it would also focus on challenges faced by a boy-child such as gender-based violence and other social ills. She said over the years a lot had been done to the give the girl-child a voice as groups and activities had been focusing on empowering the girl-child  to achieve her potential while the boy-child had been left lagging behind.

 “It is sad as the boy-child has been left to choose his future and chart his own course without much guidance and through this initiative, we want to give him a platform to voice his concerns and at the same time mentor and empower him to become a responsible man with integrity in the society,” she added.

Furthermore, Mokoloba said the boy-child had been neglected and had lost his place in the society because the society had placed a high premium on the girl-child through interventions and programmes which had rendered the boy-child prone to low self-esteem and loss of confidence.

To cover up all that, she said, the boy-child had resorted to vices such as drug abuse, crime, violence, sexual abuse and truancy among others.

She said she believed that the initiative would help him to improve his life and eventually become a change agent.

 Through the initiative, she said, they would engage experts in different fields to train and mentor contestants on life skills, behavioural change, health issues and financial management among others so that they take their place as beacons of positive change and face life courageously.

Mokoloba appealed to the business community, individuals and the public at large to support the initiative to become a success noting that the primary purpose was to empower the boy-child to strengthen the future fathers and brothers.

 By supporting the brand, she said, they would grow the company to explore other opportunities, which would benefit young people more.

She added that the event would be spiced by a fashion show billed for Maun on December 16 at Life Centre.

She thanked some stakeholders, which have already come on board to support the initiative. Park View has offered the venue for auditions.  ENDS