The Sunday News
Peter Matika Senior Leisure Reporter
CASTINGS for this year’s edition of the Miss Grand Zimbabwe pageant are scheduled to be held next week amid revelations the net will be cast out wide and not confined to established models only.The local licence holder – Chris Vukani Mhlanga said the castings would be held in Bulawayo and were not limited to models only but to anyone interested in taking part in the pageant, as long as they fit the required criteria.
He said the castings would be held at Studio 13 in Bradfield in the City of Kings on 7 June this year.
“As stated in the requirements the castings will be held on 7 June. We are not restricting the pageant to models only; it is open to anyone who can fit the bill, as required by the pageant. The castings are open to the whole of Zimbabwe and we encourage all interested ladies to come in their numbers,” he said.
Mhlanga issued a guiding statement to interested ladies, where he emphasised that for one to qualify they should possess a bikini body, flawless skin and a good height, among other requirements.
“Those interested should be aged between 17–25, they should not be married, must not have a child and the height is an added bonus, if they stand between 1.65 metres tall plus then that is an added advantage,” he said.
He said the selected girl, who would represent Zimbabwe in Bangkok, Thailand, would receive vigorous grooming, which would prepare her for the international showdown.
“Once we choose a representative we will vigorously groom her so that she meets international standards. We don’t have much time but we are confident that we will select a girl who is enthusiastic and willing to work with us. This is a national project and we hope to bring something back home, as we did last year,” said Mhlanga.
He said Africans had a different perception of the industry compared to their European counterparts, expressing hope that Zimbabwe would one day be renowned for bridging the gap between Africa and Europe.
“We want to do better than last year, where we managed to make it into the top 20 swimwear competition. We hope that the little time we have will be enough to prepare our representative who will be chosen according to requirements,” he said.
Mhlanga also urged local designers to come on board and contribute to the national effort.
“We hope designers hop on board and collaborate with us. Last year we had an issue of not having a national dress where our representative wound up wearing a costume from a local dance group,” he said.
He noted that interested participants should pay a $5 fee and should be dressed in black jeans, high heels, plain white t-shirt and have a tied back hairstyle and should not wear makeup or adorn any artificial accessories.
“We select on experience not based on people’s perceptions, we aim at producing quality and what works,” said Mhlanga.
Miss Grand International (MGI) aims at becoming the World’s leading international beauty contest under sponsorship from governments and organisations that are willing to stand for the betterment of humanity.
The pageant’s annual final will be a star studded event broadcast around the world and generating millions of media impressions.
“For delivering our message of peace, an end to war is an ideal of freedom, peace and harmony within us all, be it country, religion, race, community, family, life is simply better when it is at peace.
“Our ideal is an end to all forms of violence and hostility. For the sake of our children and the generations to follow it is our duty, domestically and internationally to rid the world of conflict and focus our efforts on improving the quality of life for all humanity,” read a statement on the Miss Grand International website.
Last year, the models cried foul when they were allegedly cheated by the license holder who later went on to represent the country at the pageant.
