MBABANE – Pageants Eswatini Chairman Tony Dlamini has spilled more beans about the Miss Culture Global pageant.
This comes after the Miss Global pageant organisers announced that liSwati by the name of Mayenziwe Maseko will represent Eswatini at the upcoming pageant.
As reported in our publication dated August 12, 2025, Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stanley Dlamini stated that the circulating social media claim about the Miss Culture Global pageant is not legitimate. According to Dlamini, the pageant is a scam and it is not registered locally.
“Representing the country goes with respect for the national flag and our sovereign State. Representing the country must be a conferred mandate, not just street pageants. Such a pageant has to be registered locally and recognised here, as some of these international pageants subscribe to unusual beliefs,” Dlamini said.
After Dlamini’s stance on the Miss Culture Global, the pageant’s chairman reached out to this publication to clarify that Eswatini will not be sending anyone to represent the country at this pageant.
He said when they participated in the Miss Culture Global last year, they uncovered a number of concerns within the pageant.
“When we visited the pageant last year, we found out that it had ghost contestants which were selected from multiple towns within South Africa. We are warning them to stop poaching our girls from the country to participate in their pageant,” Dlamini said.
He further shared that nowadays, pageants are widely used to exploit girls. “Some years back, we blocked a girl from participating in a pageant from outside the country, although I do not recall the correct country where she was supposed to travel to, but we had to stop her because pageants are now used for human trafficking.
The picture of the girl used in the current trending poster does not even show that she is a liSwati because the traditional regalia is not ours,” he said. Dlamini further recalled that some girls end up being exploited while participating in unrecognised pageants, hence it is their duty to ensure vigilance and that everything is done professionally.
…*
Organisers planning to involve UN
MBABANE – This publication has learnt that Eswatini Creativity Platform, directed by Nerville Johnson, is behind the selection of Mayenziwe Maseko to be part of Miss Culture Global.
During an interview with Johnson, he confirmed that his platform is the one running for Miss Culture Global. This journalist began by narrating to him why ENCAC is raising concerns about Eswatini’s participation in this year’s Miss Culture Global pageant. He was also asked if he had followed the proper channels when joining the pageant.
He said he was hurt to learn that the Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC) participated in this pageant last year, but now they are stopping him.
“I know the story. What confuses me is that Melinda Mavuso from arts and culture joined the same pageant last year, but because today the pageant has been joined by creativity platforms, there is an issue. What I have heard from the director of Miss Culture Global is that they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Unfortunately they say arts and culture showed signs of unprofessionalism and they ended up cancelling the MoU. The Miss Culture Global organisers then said they wanted an individual from Eswatini to participate, so I submitted applications and they chose my model. I do not understand why they now say the pageant is not registered in Eswatini,” he said.
*Full article available in our paper.
Leave a comment