Despite the many ups and downs of this year, the beauty and radiance of Africa would still be celebrated; as seen in the just concluded and crowning of the 2020 Miss South Africa; which saw the radian 24 year old Shudufhadzo Musida emerging as the winner.
The 62nd edition of the Miss South Africa final pageant, was held on 24 October 2020 in The Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town; with a 2-hour live broadcast being simulcast on M-Net and Mzansi Magic. The pageant was also televised live on YouTube to audiences around the world.
Shudufhadzo Musida
The 24-year-old newest beauty queen from Ha-Masia, Limpopo took over the title from Sasha-Lee Olivier, now former Miss South Africa; at the pageant’s glam finale that took place in the Mother City at The Table Bay hotel.
Inspired by fellow South African beauty queen and the 2019 miss universe, Zozibini Tunzi; Shudufhadzo‘s win challenges beauty standards as she grabbed the crown with her close shaven head. The Tall, dark, elegant beauty queen has also featured in Vogue Italia’s catalogue shoots.
The bald look is one favoured by both sexes in South Africa and is affectionately known as chiskop. Black South Africans are known for being militant about challenging Eurocentric beauty standards. It is South African’s Black beauty advocacy that saw an; insensitive hair advert targeted at Black people pulled out due to public backlash. The infamous TRESemme hair advert described Black African hair as “damaged” and “dry” whilst Caucasian hair was described as “fine” and “normal”. Tunzi took to her public platform to slam the company and local beauty store Clicks for running the ad which had evident racist undertones.
Shudufhadzo Musida is currently studying towards an honours degree in International Relations from the University of Witwatersrand. Congratulations have been pouring in from prominent South Africans and followers of Musida’s journey. She takes over the reins from Miss South Africa 2019 Sasha-Lee Olivier. The first and second runners-up are Tato Moselle and Natasha Joubert.