Miss Namibia national director Conny Maritz has said, entries for Miss Namibia 2021 and Miss Teen Namibia 2021 are officially open.
Dubbed Miss Namibia – Beauty with a Charitable Cause, the entries are ending on 31 January 2021.
The Miss Namibia and Miss Teen Namibia pageant are currently busy with exciting social media projects where all entrants will be introduced on social media – a first for Namibia with the team saying although there is no specific date set for the pageant yet, the top 30 will be selected by February 2021, which will be followed by the top 12 and eventually top-five and three.
In the circumstances, Miss Namibia Pageant Venture (Pty) Ltd has resolved that, for the time being, the pageant will not go ahead with arrangements for the crowning of Miss Namibia 2020 and that, until such an event can be organised.
“Our lovely reigning Miss Namibia 2019, Nadja Breytenbach and the reigning Miss Teen Namibia, Schwane Blignaut will continue to engage in public commitments and represent our sponsors,” informed Maritz.
Mid this year, Maritz informed the media on the status of the pageant citing the novel coronavirus as the reason for such decisions. “We have carefully considered the effect of the pandemic on international pageantry, the Miss Namibia pageant for 2020 as well as the Miss Namibia Teen pageant for 2020, the personal health of members of the supporting public and the prospective participants therein and, in particular, the dire financial influence of the pandemic on the pageant’s sponsors,” highlighted Maritz.
These considerations have driven the team to conclude that it will simply not be responsible in the interest of the national health of the country or fair to the burden of the loyal sponsors with requests for support in these dreadful times.
“As it is, it will in any event not be legally permissible under the emergency regulations to organise or present the national crowning event on the scheduled dates,” she mentioned.
Miss Namibia 2019, who has been holding the fort for this pageant year insisted on Namibians to maintain social distancing. “The fight isn’t won yet. Most importantly, let’s stand together as one nation – as one Namibia,” she told Entertainment Now! when the pageant officially announced its cancellation for 2020.
Due to Covid-19, a lot of her social engagements and charity works where put on halt. “This has allowed me to reach out through my social media platforms to those I would not be able to ever meet in person. I use social media to raise awareness, to motivate and to have some fun by having live chats,” progressively stated Breytenbach.
As much as countries like Namibia have cancelled the pageant year, others like South Africa have been holding virtual shows to allow participants to enter for the contest, which attracts millions of spectators every year. The Miss South Africa beauty pageant is in its final stretch as the top 10 are gearing up to take part in the 11th edition of the show on 24 October 2020.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na