Cape Town – Elands Bay drag diva Belinda Qaqamba Ka-Fassie, 24, has won the Miss Drag South Africa 2019 title.
The Stellenbosch University student, known as Abenathi Makinana off the stage, was crowned at a glittering ceremony at the State Theatre in Pretoria on Friday night.
She was up against 19 other hopefuls from across the country.
Ka-Fassie, who had the judges and the crowd in the palm of her hand, committed to fighting for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) community.
She said she would continue to promote education and activism with a goal to start positive national dialogues around homophobia and transphobia.
“I want to do this because we still face a lot of discrimination and hate crimes as gay and lesbian people.
“I believe in building and motivating young people, and I encourage our youth to take education and learning seriously.”
Ka-Fassie, who is studying education, said she was also passionate about community work and wanted to work as a researcher in education.
Miss Drag SA director and founder Enigma von Hamburg said: “Belinda is the right person for the job. We are extremely excited for her future as Miss Drag SA 2019."
The pageant’s platform to create awareness has been received well, but Von Hamburg said there was still a long way to go for people to understand and accept the LGBTQ+ community.
Ka-Fassie walked away with
prizes to the value of more than R10000, including a one-week, all-expenses-paid holiday to Hong Kong.
Miss Drag South Africa 2020 is scheduled to be hosted in Durban.
“This is a travelling pageant. South Africa needs to see what we can contribute to society.
“We look forward to seeing what is going to happen in Durban,” Von Hamburg said.