CAPE TOWN - Khayelitsha born lawyer, Pelly Mbantsa, has described being crowned Miss Western Province 2021 as a dream come true.
Mbantsa was crowned winner of the annual prestigious pageant organised by the One Moment in Time (OMT) pageants at the Bellville Valley Dutch Reformed Church recently.
The 26-year-old said: "All my life experience, the growth and the challenges have been leading up to this one moment. All the pageants I have lost and won were preparing me for this moment. I have always wanted to participate in bigger pageants in order for me to be able to amplify my voice, to have a bigger platform for my voice to be heard so that others can be empowered.
"I am from Khayelitsha which is a township where most young people believe that these dreams aren’t meant for us and they are not possible," she said.
Co-owner and director of OMT pageants, Simone Eichler said it was Mbantsa's confidence and intelligence that wowed the judges.
"Confident, elegant, intelligent, well spoken, impeccably dressed and naturally beautiful. She impressed the judges in both rounds of judging,” she said.
Mbantsa said she aspired to be a leader who can make a difference.
"I have always been inspired by leaders such as uTat’ uMandela who was a lawyer himself. For someone who grew up in Khayelitsha, where there is a high crime rate, I studied law because I wanted to change the world and to make the world a better place.
"That also ties into the pageant, which is all about touching people’s lives, changing the world/empowering others and being a leader. I want to be a leader who can show others that it is all possible, the sky is not the limit, the only limit is ourselves,” she said.
Mbantsa, who is also doing her Masters in Law at UWC, will also be competing in the Miss Universal 2022 and Miss Africa 2023.
Cape Times