Miss Plus Size controversy intensifies
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday February 2, 2017 10:24
Natasha Olopeng, Thapelo Olopeng’s daughter, has substituted the queen, Mmangaka Tumagole whose contract was terminated early last month. The first princess Gabby Mochudi was also overlooked in the process.
This means Natasha will represent the country at Miss Plus Size Universe Beauty pageant to be held in Trinidad and Tobago on March 4, 2017.
In beauty pageants, it is custom that when a beauty queen is dethroned, the first princess takes over the crown. However, that was not the case in the Miss Plus Size pageant.
The pageant director Gorata Kekgethile has denied allegations that the decision to substitute Tumagole with Natasha was influenced by her parents’ social status, saying both the queen and the first princess did not qualify to represent the country in the international leg of the pageant.
“I knew from the beginning of the pageant that Natasha is the minister’s daughter. She worked hard and did her part in the pageant just like everyone. Natasha is a better fit to represent the country according to my observation,” she said.
She further explained that Natasha was plus size and met the international criteria. She added that whoever would have been the second princess would have substituted Tumagole regardless of who they were. She also denied Tumagole’s claims that she was expected to lose 100kg, saying that it was impossible for anyone to lose so much and it was not up to her whether someone should lose weight or not.
“Losing weight is an individual’s personal decision. I only required her (Tumagole) to tone her body, watch her diet and have a weight reading. Weight loss or gain is not among any of our principles,” she said.
When asked how she was going to monitor Natasha as she is currently staying in South Africa, Kekgethile said she always makes time to come to the country when needed.
Tumagole, who was supposed to represent the country, was disqualified because they could not work with her anymore.
“We had communication problem. She didn’t attend gym and diet class as required and doesn’t have weight reading, which disqualified her in Trinidad. She is not groomed to represent the country and we have a month left to catch up before the competition,” she told Showbiz.
Kekgethile added that other reasons for termination of the contract were that the disqualified queen cannot walk in heels and she has not been preparing for the pageant.
The first princess, Mochudi told Showbiz that last year in December Kekgethile promised to elevate her to the position of queen and that she would represent Botswana at the global competition in Trinidad.
“Despite not being paid my full prize benefits for the title, I had originally won, I viewed the opportunity presented to me as a chance for me to further my aims of promoting the image of self-confident of young plus size women while awaiting settlement of outstanding dues,” she said.
Mochudi said despite her full cooperation with the pageant director, organisers and sponsors, and the reassurance from Kekgethile as to the new role she was going to play, she was surprised to hear that she would not be elevated to the position of the queen.
“I was surprised to hear from the media that Tumagole’s contract was terminated and she was replaced with Natasha when I knew that I was the one who was supposed to replace her. However, I do not think Tumagole was fairly dismissed because I didn’t see anything wrong with her behaviour,” she said.
For her part, Tumagole said she was seeking legal advice as she felt she was unfairly dismissed. She said to date Kekgethile fails to account as to why she was dethroned from her title because she did her best to do what was expected of her.