Miss World and former Miss SA attend Memorial lecture

MISS World Toni-Ann Singh, of Jamaica, joined Miss South Africa 2020 Shudufhadzo Musida at the Charlotte Maxeke Memorial Lecture at Glen High School in Tshwane yesterday.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga delivered the keynote address on the life and times of Charlotte Maxeke, the first black woman in South Africa to graduate with a BSc and the first black woman to fight for freedom from exploitative and social conditions for African women.

Motshekga’s lecture also marked a celebration of the International Month of the Girl Child.

After the event, the two beauty queens travelled to Thabisang Primary School in Orlando West, Soweto, where Musida read to the learners from her recently released book Shudu Finds Her Magic, before visiting Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Museum.

Singh and Musida rounded off their day together with a late lunch at Vilakazi Restaurant where Miss World was given a taste of some of South Africa’s most well-known indigenous dishes.

Singh has visited South Africa once before, when she was invited by Chief Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s eldest grandson, to celebrate his mother’s 70th birthday in Mvezo and donate 1 300 pairs of shoes as part of Beauty with a Purpose’s support of local schools and children.

Singh arrived in South Africa last week to attend the Miss South Africa pageant.

Musida will be participating in the 70th edition of the Miss World pageant to be held on December 16 at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico.