Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder

Check out the archive of past Miss South Africa winners (courtesy of Louis Fourie), along with this article published in Generations (a genealogy newsletter) in 1999. I can only remember back to 1989 and Michelle Bruce. My tennis coach at that time told us she was his sister, and I believed him. Who knows!

11 years before that and a year before I was born, Margaret Gardiner won Miss Universe 1978.

In 1978, for the first time in the history of any televised pageant, the judges' composite scores for each semifinalist were shown on the screen! Using the latest in computer technology the judges punched in their scores to a computer terminal.

Anneline Kriel was crowned Miss World in 1974 - she replaced Helen Morgan (UK) who was dethroned four days after the pageant when it was discovered she was a single mother.

In 1980, Jenny Kay was to have competed at Miss Universe in Seoul, but as the South Korean government did not recognize the government of South Africa at the time, she was not awarded a visa to enter the country.

South Africa was barred from Miss World between 1978 and 1991.

Diana Tilden-Davis (2nd runner up Miss World 1991) was attacked by a hippo in neighbouring Botswana, two years ago. The Hippopotamus amphibius (which literally means "river horse") is considered by many experts to be the most dangerous animal in Africa (not counting the mosquito). Hippos were grouped with pigs until 1985. More people are killed every year by pigs and falling coconuts than by sharks. In Denmark there are twice as many pigs as people.

A year later in 1992, Amy Kleinhans became the first Coloured Miss South Africa. She was classified as a Coloured i.e a person of mixed black and white ancestry before the Population Registration Act was repealed in 1991.

And in 1993, Jacqui Mofokeng made history by becoming the first Black woman crowned Miss South Africa.

Tragically, countless racist complaints came with her $100, 000 prize money.

On a local radio show in South Africa, for instance, the 21-year-old Mofokeng had to endure listening to calls from White South Africans who dismissed her victory as tokenism and even said she was ugly. They telephoned her hotel room to sling some additional mud at her. But throughout the ordeal, Mofokeng refused to be intimidated. "I won that title because I deserved it," she says with unshakable confidence. "I worked very hard preparing for it!"

Nelson Mandela apparently agreed: He regards her as an important South African symbol. The South African leader told her in person that "any victory for one Black South African is a victory for all of us," Mofokeng says proudly.

AND in 1997, Kerishnie Naiker became the first Indian woman to wear the crown.