Miss SA Won’t Boycott Miss Universe Pageant

The Miss South Africa organization has confirmed Lalela Mswane’s participation at the Miss Universe pageant, despite some in Mzansi calling for the beauty queen to boycott the competition due to the current political situation in Israel.

The controversy surrounding the contest began after Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, publicly asked African countries to snub the beauty pageant, saying that there’s nothing beautiful about the discrimination against the Palestinian people.

However, the Miss SA organisation has issued a statement saying that Mswane will not withdraw from the pageant and labelled the boycott call from many South Africans as “bullying”.

The organisation’s CEO, Stephanie Weil said: “We are not a political organisation and the Miss Universe pageant is not a politically inspired event”.

Their statement caused a stir on Twitter, with many users expressing disgust at their response.

One user only known as Janine J wrote: “People are simply saying: if you are going to represent SA, then represent the values of SA. Is the Miss SA organisation not aware of the official SA stance on Palestinian liberation?”

She added: “You are sending a Black South African woman to represent SA on stage in an apartheid state. If you don’t understand how tone-deaf that is, then I don’t even know what to say.”

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