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Thabiso Phiri

Brenda Phiri Entertainment Reporter
National beauty pageant Miss Zimbabwe has rebranded to Miss World Zimbabwe, the Miss Zimbabwe Trust has announced. The pageant, which suffered a rocky first edition under the chairmanship of Marry Chiwenga, has adopted an inclusive approach and will incorporate Zimbabweans living in the diaspora, according to programmes and communications manager, Tendai Chirau.

“In addition to the local participants, Zimbabwean citizens residing in other countries can also participate by filling a form on the Trust’s website www.misszimbabwe.org,” he said.

The rebranded pageant has been scheduled for April 25 2015 at Mermaids Pool in Shamva and will run under the theme “Probity”.

Chirau said the theme conformed to a strong quality they were looking for in would-be contenders of the title.

“We are a highly cultured nation and we want that to reflect in our representatives. They should have strong moral principles; honesty and decency. The unfortunate incidents from last year were not our own making and we stood by the trust’s rules and regulations when we handled it,” he said in apparent allusions to the dethronement of the first queen rumoured to have been over leaked nude images.

The replacement queen broke ranks with the organisers with an unprecedented third queen taking over the crown a short while before the international Miss World competition where she failed to impress.

Chirau said their scouting team will begin to conduct auditions tomorrow throughout the country’s 10 provinces.

“This year’s edition is being held early in order to give the eventual Miss World Zimbabwe 2015 adequate time to prepare for the Miss World.

We are not the only ones holding the pageant at an early date as Miss World title holders, Miss South Africa have also scheduled their pageant for March,” he said.

Speaking of the conditions, he said the scouting team would be considering those aged between 18-26, a minimum of 1,71m height, slim who must never been married or given birth.

“The requirements stipulated by the Trust conform to the standards prescribed by the Miss World which the Trust is a member of. Girls selected from the provinces will be required to attend a boot camp from the 1st of April 2015, as Miss World Zimbabwe delegates for selection as Miss World Zimbabwe semi-finalists,” he said.