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MBABANE – ENCAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stanley Dlamini has stated that the circulating social media claim about the Miss Culture Global pageant is not legitimate.
According to Dlamini, the pageant is a scam, as it is not registered locally. The poster circulating on social media claims Eswatini will participate at this year’s Miss Culture Global, with Mayenziwe Maseko purportedly chosen as the sole representative. Upon seeing the post, this publication shared the poster with Dlamini to confirm if the council is aware of the pageant and whether Maseko would be truly representing the country. In his response, he emphasised that representing Eswatini must be a recognised mandate.
“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.
This publication also contacted Miss Culture Global Sponsorship and Partnership Director Karabo Mokone to verify if they had followed proper channels in selecting Mayenziwe Maseko and officially recognising her as ‘representing Eswatini’. Mokone explained that they are an independent international organisation that selects contestants based on merit.
“Miss Culture Global is an independent international organisation with operations in multiple countries. In nations where we do not yet have an officially appointed national director or franchise holder, we allow qualified candidates to apply directly through our website and social media platforms.
“We received several applications from Eswatini and after a thorough review process, our selection committee chose Mayenziwe Maseko based solely on merit and alignment with our competition’s criteria. This is the same process we follow for all other countries without a local franchise partner,” Mokone stated.
Mokone also expressed openness to establishing an official representative from Eswatini to oversee future participant selections.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with an official body in Eswatini in future, should an individual or organisation wish to act as national director and manage the selection process locally.
Our goal is to ensure fair, transparent and merit-based participation, giving talented women from around the world the chance to showcase their culture and potential on a global stage,” Mokone added. They shared that their licence is worth US$1 000, which is money that amounts to over E17 000 when converted to local currency.
Last March, the Miss Global pageant organisers visited Eswatini, meeting with ENCAC delegates and the minister for Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs. Mokone said they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ENCAC during that visit.
However, she added that the MoU was later revoked. When asked to specify these actions, Mokone said they would share the MoU, but had not done so at the time of this report, as they needed to review the document.
Full article available in our paper.
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