Bonang Matheba, Zozibini Tunzi and Leandie du Randt
In 1999, the Miss South Africa grand finale was held at the Sun City Superbowl on Saturday, December 11 with 26 finalists taking part.
At the end of the evening, SABC3 viewers watched Heather Hamilton from KwaZulu-Natal crowned Miss South Africa.
Now, this year, the long-running pageant, returns to SABC 3, now S3, to not only crown a new winner, but also for the showcase for a five-part series, “Crown Chasers”.
Miss South Africa Organisation CEO Stephanie Weil: “We said we’d shake things up, do things differently and bring a new level of interest to the Miss South Africa competition and I believe we have done just that!”
Lala Tuku, Head of Local Productions at the SABC in a press statement expressed the channel’s excitement over the title’s return.
“The Miss South Africa title carries with it a lot of hope, aspirations and most importantly, it enables young women from all backgrounds to showcase the power of what one can achieve with the right mindset.
“This is a showcase of intelligent, passionate and confident young women who are carving various paths towards success. The SABC remains the home of events of national importance and our logline for S3 is ‘Open Up’.”
“Crown Chasers” will be broadcast weekly starting from Saturday, July 8, in the lead up to the final event and the crowning of a new Miss South Africa, which will take place at Sun International’s SunBet Arena at Time Square in Pretoria on Sunday, August 13.
Bonang Matheba and Leandie du Randt - will be present for each episode with a celebrity guest judge each week, while the series’ host Zozibini Tunzi (Miss South Africa and Miss Universe 2019) will act as a mentor to the finalists throughout the competition.
Guest judges include Miss South Africa 2018 Dr Tamaryn Green Nxumalo, Miss South Africa 2001 Vanessa Carreira Coutroulis, Miss South Africa 2010 Bokang Montjane-Tshabalala, fashion designers Gert Johann Coetzee and Khosi Nkosi, as well as businesswomen Koo Govender.