Miss South Africa judge Basetsana Kumalo had an unfortunate accident and incurred an injury, which she is undergoing surgery.
The pageant released a statement.It read: “Miss South Africa regrets to announce that Basetsana Kumalo, one of the judges for this year’s Miss South Africa pageant, had an unfortunate accident yesterday at her son’s school after watching him play at a concert. She slipped in the rain and broke her ankle and is currently in hospital undergoing surgery”
The organisers have made the decision not to replace her on the judging panel at this late stage and her scores to date still stand. Holding the fort in Kumalo’s absence are are entrepreneur, poet, writer and former magazine editor Kojo Baffoe; actress and TV personality Sophie Ndaba; designer Casper Bosman and magazine editor and style icon Pnina Fenster.
Host Sun International shared their well-wishes, saying: “We wish Basetsana a speedy recovery and thank her for her invaluable input as both a former Miss South Africa herself and a respected businesswomen. She has already made an enormous contribution to this year’s pageant and we feel that she is irreplaceable at this late stage. We will miss her on the evening.”
The 12 women vying for the crown this year are Elizabeth Molapo (Bloemfontein, Free State); Felicia Muwayi (Nelspruit, Mpumalanga); Luyolo Mngonyama (Umtata, Eastern Cape); Marciel Hopkins (Paarl, Western Cape); Mikaela Oosthuizen (Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape); Ntandoyenkosi Kunene (Mkhondo, Mpumalanga); Reabetswe Sechoaro (Pretoria East, Gauteng); Ronette Chambers (Cape Town, Western Cape); Sarah Botes (Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng); Schané Venter (Alberton, Gauteng); Sharon-Rose Khumalo (Pretoria, Gauteng) and Tayla Skye Robinson (Roodepoort, Gauteng).
The pageant will take place at Carnival City on Saturday and will be televised on M-Net (DStv Channel 101) and Mzansi Magic (DStv Channel 161) from 17h00 to 19h00.
