Ycer Machimana still couldn’t believe she had won Miss Gay Jozi when The Star spoke to her on Sunday, following a night of excitement and dancing till sun-up.
“I left club Simply Blue in Selby at 6am,” she said laughing.
The 27-year-old was crowned on Saturday night at the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein at the third annual instalment of the pageant.
She said she had been preparing for months before she took the much-coveted crown.
“I love pageants so much, so I searched Miss Gay Jozi in January and kept an eye on their Facebook page, till they posted audition details.
“I wanted to enter back in 2013, but I was living in Pretoria and didn’t think I should do it.
“Since then, I’ve been preparing for months. Looking for evening gowns, hair and shoes. I put in a lot of effort. This pageant meant a lot to me even before I won.”
Machimana said that she panicked all the way until the last moment.
“I was the last name to be called when they were choosing the top 12, so I was panicking, thinking about where I went wrong because I had a very good crowd and people were loving me.”
She added that she was not certain she had won when they first called out her name.
“I wasn’t sure. There were so many things running through my head, but when I realised it was me, all I could think was, ‘God, thank you so much’. I was shaking and in shock.”
Former Miss Gay Jozi Thabo Menu comforted Machimana and advised her not to cry because it would ruin her make-up.
Miss Gay Jozi co-ordinator, Zsa-Zsa Whitney Gabor-Houston, said about the pageant: “It is a means of expressing ourselves and our new-found freedom which is enshrined in the constitution, and celebrated in conjunction with Africa Day.
“We cannot speak for the whole gay community, but what we as gay individuals are trying to achieve is to be true to ourselves, enjoy it and be happy.”
The Star