In a surprise turn of events Zimbabwe’s two flagships pageants, Miss Tourism Zimbabwe and Miss World Zimbabwe, have clashed on dates, forcing the former to move their show indefinitely.
By Sindiso Dube
Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, which has been making preparations, was slated for September 8 where they were scheduled to host their ceremony on the last day of the annual Sanganai/Hlanganani world tourism expo in Bulawayo before Miss Zimbabwe announced their date last week.
Miss Tourism Bulawayo successfully completed their provincial search with a glamorous ceremony in the City of Queens and Kings a fortnight ago.
Licence holder for Miss Tourism Zimbabwe Sarah Mpofu Sibanda confirmed that they had moved the date.
“We have decided to move our date further so that we pave way for Miss Zimbabwe, which is for the betterment of the pageants, fans and Zimbabwe,” she said.
“We can’t have two pageants of such big magnitude hosted on the same night. It would divide attention, so Miss Tourism will be held at a date to be advised.”
Mpofu said preparations for the pageant were not going to be interrupted by the change of date.
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“We are still going on with what we have been doing. The girls are ready to rock and this sudden change of date will give us more time to prepare,” she said.
Miss World Zimbabwe spokesperson Tendai Chirau on Thursday confirmed to our sister paper NewsDay that the pageant had been moved to September 8.
“We are happy with the progress in preparations for the forthcoming Miss World Zimbabwe 2018 set for Orchid Gardens in Borrowdale East in Harare,” Chirau said.
“For now, we have paved way for another special national event, the harmonised elections, coming in less than two weeks, so our boot camp is set to commence on August 15 in Harare, while the grand finale has been scheduled for September 8.”
This is not the first time the two pageants have clashed. The two once clashed over a sponsor, Big Time Strategic Group, which is owned by South Africa-based businessman Justice Maphosa, back then Miss Tourism was being hosted by Barbara Mzembi , the wife of former Tourism minister Walter Mzembi.
Meanwhile, South Africa-based prominent Zimbabwean designer Spero Villioti has been confirmed as the custom designer and Big Time Strategic Group has returned as part of Miss World Zimbabwe.
