Low turnout at Miss Botswana auditions
Faith Siako | Tuesday July 28, 2015 13:40
The auditions, which were held on Saturday at the Adansonia hotel, attracted only 15 aspiring beauty queens.
In 2013, which was the last time the pageant was held, hordes of hopeful young women turned up for the Francistown auditions that were held at Thapama hotel.
By late Saturday afternoon when Showbiz visited Adansonia hotel, only ten young women had auditioned.
The organisers were forced to postpone the closing time of the auditions from the initial 5 pm to 6 pm, with the hope that aspiring beauty queens would come. However, by 6 pm only 15 ladies had been auditioned.
The low turnout was blamed on poor advertising and late announcement of the auditions date by the organisers.
One young woman, who auditioned and spoke on condition of anonymity said she had heard about the auditions only two days before the set date. She lamented that she did not have enough time to prepare for the auditions because the date for the auditions was announced late.
In addition, she said the registration fee was too high, which might be unaffordable to some especially taking into consideration that communication of the auditions date was not done on time. Auditions fee is P300.
Another aspirant, who also asked not to be named, said Francistown might not be a suitable venue for many people who would have loved to audition.
“Some people residing in places like Shakawe and Gantsi might have failed to travel the long distance to audition because they would have incurred too many expenses.
“Most people also recently auditioned and were selected for the Miss Africa beauty pageant hence they may have felt it was unnecessary to audition for Miss Botswana,” she said.
Miss Botswana media director, Tshepo Maphanyane said they are not concerned about the low turnout at the auditions.
“We are not searching for the quantity of people who come for auditions. Instead, we are looking for quality women who can represent Botswana and make us proud at the Miss World beauty pageant,” she said.
She further said the auditions should not be a problem for individuals who have passion and are determined to succeed. She added that organisers felt that the fee would cushion against some cost associated with organising the pageant. Maphanyane said since they have little time left to organise and prepare for the Miss Botswana and Miss World pageants therefore they could not hold auditions in every town across the country as per the norm.