Earlier in October, the unconventional Mrs. Botswana beauty pageant was marred by controversy and chaos as a group of aggrieved contestants petitioned the organizer to re-calculate the scores.
The controversial pageant made headlines when the hopefuls in an interview with The Voice called for independent auditors to be employed to oversee the whole process.
However, the event never materialized because the Chief Organizer, Kgalalelo Lesetedi said she was not pleased with the way the syndicate handled the whole matter in what she termed to be “ruining the brand’s name.”
Sitting in an interview with The Voice this week Lesetedi passionately recounted how she got to start Mrs. Botswana, which debuted in 2017.
“I saw it happening in other countries and I was like ‘Wow! We don’t have that in Botswana, what can a lady like me do? I’m married, so what more can I do?
I’m into the advocacy of happy and healthy marriages. It was a hard beginning, my husband even sold his car to fund my dream because I believed in this thing when no one did.”
In 2017, the crown landed on Keitumetse Motlhasedi and the 2018 crown was won by Keletso Linchwe both of whom went on to compete in China and the Philippines respectively.
Maureen Mathuba managed to snatch the crown this year.
“The first time I heard of Mrs. Botswana was when my sister told me she’s registered my name for the auditions. To me, it was a ‘Wow!’ experience. I have always wanted to be this beauty queen but there were no pageants catering for women with children and moreover, married. Finally there came someone who thought about giving us a chance to enjoy and acknowledge ourselves.”
Mathuba is currently conducting her project on Gender Based Violence and children’s protection.
It also strives to get boys and girls to accept and interact with each other without fear.
In response to the syndicate that pushed for the recalculation of the scores, Mathuba calmly stated, “This is a competition, I won the crown as any of them would have. If I had not, I would still say, this is a competition.’
The effortlessly beautiful woman will be leaving for Mrs.
Universe in China from the 21st December 2019 until the 1st of January 2020 and she promises to bring the crown home.
