Newly-crowned Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida should be basking in the light of her win.
But instead of celebrating the conclusion of her homecoming tour which saw her visit Limpopo and her home village of Ha-Masia, the University of Pretoria graduate has had to deal with negative comments which flooded our timelines over the weekend.
If online trolls affected her in any way, Musida didn’t let it show; instead choosing to ignore it and radiate in the warm welcome she received from fans back home.
undefinedBut it was inevitable that the comparisons between herself and current Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi eventually made their way to the light of day and play itself out on Twitter.
Tribalism amongst South Africans is exhausting, the hate that Miss SA is getting is from the same group of people that undermine other tribes.
— ꪀꪊꪀꪖ✨ (@_IpelengL) November 13, 2020
Im not a Vendor and I love Shudu so much. I understand why others might not because everything is subjective. This tweet is shitty, because you've shown exactly why other tribes are being undermined. Its the feeling sorry for yourselves, hayi maaan, walk tall yho.
— Siba At Sea (@mamtimande) November 14, 2020
From playing the tribalism card to accusing Musida of being arrogant, tweeps made their opinions very clear.
Lol I really snapped here 🥺😍 https://t.co/cYO4vYnkPG
— Shudufhadzo (@abigailmusida) November 13, 2020
Don't tell me that u don't know all this people who think they are up high they will never engage with you. It is only those who are few 😏 who knows were they come from.
— Sam (@Sam05241241) November 13, 2020
Despite the negative comments, fans showed their support for the beauty queen.
Local actress and author Bonnie Mbuli responded to the hate with: “Nithi what is your actual problem with our Miss SA? I really can’t fathom how basic ur reasoning level has to be to support tribalism...but the other issue could be that people have spent so much time aspiring to a standard of beauty so foreign to their true appearance..”
undefinedBonang Matheba also voiced her support with a loud “we gotchu...”, causing Musida to respond with “Love you mama.”
It’s not the first time Tunzi has been pitted against her fellow Miss SA winners. Previously, tweeps took issue with Musida’s predecessor Sasha-Lee Olivier. From body-shaming Olivier to suggesting she was pregnant, the trolling became a constant during her reign.