Mr and Miss Kgatleng Festival beauty pageant will finally be held on November 4, 2023 at The Three Dikgosi Monument. In an interview with Arts&Culture, the event coordinator, Olefile Seame, said the event is centred on promoting the Bakgatla lifestyle and culture saying it was the desire to keep culture in the modern lifestyle that motivated him to host it.
He added that the objective of the pageant was that in the evolving world, the new generations should not get lost in the contemporary and cosmopolitan world but to understand the roots of Bakgatla and Batswana in general. Mr and Miss Kgatleng Festival is both a ladies and gentlemen’s pageant.
Seame pointed out that they have eight ladies competing for the Miss Kgatleng Festival title, namely, Laone Mosemele, Palesa Mawila, Sieria Letshoo, Lisah Mogale, Myheart Ditlamelo, Amantle Shirley, Seeletso Ntlhaga and Keith Kopore while they have four gentlemen competing for the Mr Kgatleng Festival title, namely, Abang Mosiiwa, Kago Mokane, Neville Oaipeta Kgoropu and Tefo Tshwaane. “Our pageant does not require anything, if you are a Mokgatla aging between 18 to 28 years, you became part of Mr and Miss Kgatleng Festival. The pageantry was established in the year 2021 meaning the year 2023 will be the third year hosting it. The queen and king will walk away with cash prize of P5, 000 and some gifts from our sponsors. Both of them will represent Botswana next year at Mr and Miss United Nations in Florida, USA,” he said.
Furthermore, he said they have companies, individuals and businesses that sponsored the pageantry even though it was not in monetary terms. They include La AUDIO Visuals, Gorg, Miss Edified Botswana, Main Street Guest House, Gymlife Fitness Club, Miss Royal International Botswana Queen, Zeal Kingz aka Zealqk, Dominion Organic Hair Products, Alkohol Konnekt, Glam Crowns and others. He said the challenges he faced, as the organisers were lack of finances. He also pointed out that contestants have been preparing for the grand finale for the past two months.
He added that they have different parades that would mesmerize the audience and give the judges a hard time to choose the new queen and king. These includes the introduction dance, vintage parade as their contestants would be taking it back to older days, traditional parade which their contestants would be performing different cultures, swim wear parade and the evening gown parade. “There will be entertainment from Botswana talented upcoming artists, DJs Lapek, Atty The Choreographer, Sphetoh and The Dance Trio. Our tickets are sold as follows; general P200, double P350 and VIP at P350,” he concluded.
