wouldgoonto winthe
crown.‘Theydidtellus
this– thatyourroommate
willbecomeyoursecond
lifeline.Webecame
mutuallyresponsiblefor
eachother,’shesays.
Zozibiniandothers
walkedSibabalwethrough
theunfamiliarterrain,
wherephraseslike
‘walkinga T-ramp’sounded
likeanotherlanguage.
Therelevanceof
pageantsin ourmodern
worldremainsa complicated
question,especiallyin a
timewherebeautyideals
arebeinginterrogatedand
challenged.Nowadays,
manyof us resonatewith
poetWarsanShire’swords:
‘It’snotmyresponsibilityto
bebeautiful.I’mnotalive
forthatpurpose.Myexistence
her decision to be publicly
queer. In response, her mother
expressed understandable
concerns about her daughter’s
safety in a country where
violence is a real threat in
LGBTQIA+ people’s lives.
As she now reflects, ‘It’s one
thing to come out to yourself
and your family and your
friends, but to stand in front
of the whole country felt like
I wascomingoutto myself
alloveragain.It wasthe
wildestexperience.’
KevalHarie,thedirector
of theGayandLesbian
Archive(GALA),believesin
theimportanceof visibilityin
anenvironmentwhereweare
oftentoldthathomosexuality
is ‘un-African’.Headdsthat
‘whatweneedmoreand
moreis theabilityto bevisible
in spacesthatareaffirming
andsafe.I thinkthefact
thatMissSouthAfricahasits
firstopenlyqueercontestant
is huge.It signifiesa shift
in thewayweunderstand
questionsof identity.I thinkit
willalsoforcethecompetition
to lookinwardsandfind
waysin whichwecanmake
thispageantsomethingthat
is intrinsicallysupportiveof
a societythatchallengesthe
genderbinary.AndI thinkif
theMissSouthAfricapageant
wantsto stayrelevant,then
that’swhatit needsto do.’
In someways,thepageant
is tryingto pivot.Launched
duringapartheidin
1956,AmyKleinhans-Curd
becamethefirstnon-white
winnerin 1992,famously
refusingto carrytheold
SouthAfricanflagat
MissWorld.Undernew
management,thisyear’s
line-upis arguablythe
mostdiversein its history.60
COSMOPOLITAN.CO.ZA | SEPTEMBER 2019PHOTOGRAPHYGETTY IMAGES *ACCORDING TOMISSSA.CO.ZASibabalwe
walking with
confidence
and conservative. In the
official show, the swimsuit
section remains – seemingly
contradicting claims that
other aspects like intelligence
and social responsibility
are important.
In 2019, we know that
beauty has no boundaries.
Diversity advocate and Miss
South Africa 2019 judge,
Thando Hopa, notes how in
recent years there has been
a palpable shift against ‘the
beauty construct’ that has
‘sought to democratise the
image of beauty’. Through
self-love, ‘Women are
exploring the radical act
of personal freedom, body
confidence and agency. They
are cultivating a new cultural
environment,’ she said.
Can beauty pageants
catch up to the pace of
our politics? And how do
we measure progress? In
many ways, Sibabalwe
symbolises the leap
towards representation.
She was determined to
be herself. She says that she
thought, ‘If I don’t do anything
else – if I don’t become Miss
South Africa – I will be me.’
In an interview, she said: ‘I’m
deliberately speaking out
about my sexuality because
I understand that not everyone
has that opportunity. People
are still hiding because of
fear, and if my speaking
out helps someone, then
I’ve done what I wanted
to achieve.’
The night before the Top 35
announcement, Sibabalwe
phoned her mother, explaining‘ If my speaking
out helps someone,
then I’ve done what
I wanted to achieve’
is not about how desirable
you find me.’
The history of pageants
is unavoidably a site of
exclusion – where beauty
has been narrowly defined
in sharp boundaries. While
there have been shifts over
the years, changes have
largely felt, to some, like
cosmetic differences in
diversity, without overhauling
the entire structure of the
competition itself and the
barriers to entry. Among
their rules, Miss South
Africa still requires a woman
to both have never been
married nor pregnant and
be between 20 and 27,
with no visible tattoos.
Conforming to international
pageant regulations, for
many it feels like prohibition
and policing. Beauty, by
these definitions, is young,
virginal, slim, sleek-haired