Johannesburg - Ntandoyenkosi Kunene remembers the exact moment she wanted to be Miss South Africa.
“It was when I watched Kerishnie Naicker get crowned. I was six years old,” she said.
That moment in 1997 is still etched in the 23-year-old’s mind.
“Weirdly enough, I don't know how that memory has stuck with me for so long. I still remember the very song they were playing, Will You Be There, by Michael Jackson. I still remember how they announced her name. So that's where the seed was planted. I was like, one day I want to see myself on the Miss South Africa stage.”
Not only did she see herself on the stage at Carnival City’s Big Top Arena on Saturday night, but she took the coveted title of Miss South Africa after years of preparation.
Kunene started being a pageant girl when she was just four years old.
“I won my first pageant when I was four, and from then on I've been doing pageants. In the township where I grew up, whenever there was a pageant, people knew that Ntando was probably going to enter, so people know me as that person, even at home,” she recalled.
The education honours student from Mpumalanga was speaking to The Star at the Maslow hotel in Sandton with her newly won crown shimmering in the soft sunlight.
With some detractors on social media questioning the relevance of the pageant, Kunene feels this is her way of bringing positive change to the country and her life.
“The pageant is relevant because it's someone's dream coming to reality. Last night it was me. It was my dream to become Miss South Africa, so that does inspire any other South African or child to go out there and work for everything they want.
“That's how it will always be relevant to each and every South African.”
She said the road to the title had been great for her health.
“I'm lucky enough to have good genes, so I've never struggled with my weight. However, with Miss South Africa I had to step it up a bit. I'm eating healthier, going to gym and drinking water, not because I want to be skinny or anything, but just because I want to be healthy and fit to carry on my reign properly.”
Kunene still affords herself a cheat day now and again, and admits that ribs, burgers and slap chips are her weakness.
It was less than 12 hours since she had won, and she was still in shock. With the pictures, interviews and media responsibilities, she'd hardly had time for it to sink in.
“It has been playing in my mind for the longest time. It was more than I ever imagined.”
The Star