Beauty queens to meet, greet citizens

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Wednesday June 9, 2010 00:00

 

The contestants, who are still unknown to many Batswana, will be given the opportunity to interact with ordinary citizens.  The beauty queens will also among many things, give people a free live show where they will strut the catwalk in a practice session ahead of the grand finale to be held on June 25 at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC).

Miss Universe Botswana director, Safi Sekgwa said Batswana should support the contestants by turning up in large numbers this weekend because they are ambassadors of women and Botswana in general.  'Competitions like these represent a leap forward in empowering women,' he said.

Sekgwa said they are expecting amongst many high fliers, the MTV Africa chief executive officer. He said this could be used as an opportunity to market Botswana, its culture and tourism sector.

Queen Kolobe, chief executive officer of Madame Queen Agency, who is also part of the Miss Universe Botswana organising team, said her role in the competition is to ensure that culture is preserved.

She said that one of the most important things in such competitions is to be able to represent your culture well.'My duty is however to oversee that the way they dress, eat, and communicate, among other things, is glamorous at the same time depicting culture,' she said.  

Meanwhile, the 2010 Miss Universe pageant is expected to take place on August 23 in Las Vegas in the United States of America (US). Over one billion people from around the world are expected to watch the show whilst over 12, 000 people are expected to attend the event. 

Kolobe said she expects a better performance from Botswana this year, as she is confident in the beauty queens. 'We are working closely with the contestants and I am sure whoever wins at the Miss Universe Botswana pageant will make us proud internationally,' she said.