She took to the catwalk in a self-sewn navy blue outfit that drew applause from the audience, and cheers when she was crowned.
But this was no ordinary beauty contest and Pretty Ndokweni was no ordinary contestant.
The 21-year-old KwaMashu woman is a convicted fraudster serving her 12-year-sentence at Westville Prison, which held a beauty pageant on Thursday as a way to help empower female inmates.
Non-prisoners, including correctional services staff, also took part.
Ndokweni, wearing a make-believe “Miss Sandton” sash, was crowned Miss Zithande Ukuze Uthandeke, which means “love yourself in order to be loved” – the theme of the pageant.
She said she was thrilled at winning, after being named second princess last year.
“I’m really happy today,” Ndokweni said after she and her two princesses walked off the ramp clutching prizes of beauty hampers.
The soft spoken woman, who learnt to sew in prison, said she wished to make a career using the skill after she is released. She had fashioned her outfit out of a stock prison uniform.
Prisoners were urged to forget the past and focus on their futures by speakers, including Marinda Williams, 52, an artist who was convicted in 2006 for smuggling five kilograms of cocaine into the country from Brazil.
She said that she had been in and out of jail since the 1990s for petty theft and possession of dagga and regretted leaving home at the age of 16.
Ntombifuthi Khoza, of Soweto, the pageant’s first princess, said she was arrested at King Shaka International Airport in 2010 for drug trafficking.
She described yesterday’s event as a welcome distraction from the drudgery of prison life.
Khoza said she was due to be released later this year after qualifying for the remission of sentence deal that President Jacob Zuma announced on Freedom Day.
- Daily News