BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MBABANE- Who will be the fairest of them all?
Miss Cultural Heritage Eswatini has announced the date of the official crowning of the next queen. The event will be held next week on Sunday (December 17) at the George Hotel- Lawn in Manzini. The event is scheduled to kick off at 2 pm.
The outgoing queen Lindelwa Maziya was crowned last year in November. Nomphumelelo Matsebula was crowned First Princess while Noncendo Mamba was crowned Second Princess.
Initially, the crowning was supposed to be held this weekend but was postponed to next week because the 19 contestants are currently at a boot camp as they prepare for the finals.
When reached for comment Sandra Ismail, who is the head of sponsorship, spoke on behalf of the pageant. She said, “The ladies are currently attending boot camp since yesterday (Wednesday). There will be at Engculwini for two nights. The boot camp will determine partial votes for each of the girls. The time of the boot camp also gives us an opportunity to get to know the girls, groom them about the importance of culture and heritage.”
Ismail went on to say that they will also be learning how to do some of the basic cultural activities in accordance with the pageant namely; how to collect wood, kusindza (loosely translated to the polishing of floors with cow dung), getting water from the river and cooking.
It is also worth mentioning that the 19 finalists started yesterday morning at Elangeni and will later proceed to Engculwini.
Ismail also shared with the publication that the other reason they decided to postpone the crowning to next week was also to give the finalists more time to amass as many votes before the crowning which will work in their favour.
