Miss South Africa is a national beauty pageant in South Africa that selects South African representatives to compete in one of the

Big Four international beauty pageants The Big Four or the Big League Pageants refers to the four major international beauty pageants for women — Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth. The group was first described by the ''China Daily'' newspaper in ...

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

. The Miss South Africa organisation resorted to a contemporary format in selecting representatives which was inaugurated in 2018. The current Miss South Africa 2024 is

Mia le Roux Mia le Roux (28 June 1995) is a South African people, South African beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss South Africa 2024. She represented South Africa at Miss Universe 2024, but withdrew for health reasons. Early life Le Roux was ...

History

Established in 1956, the first official Miss South Africa pageant was organized to send a representative to London for the Miss World pageant. That year Norma Vorster was crowned Miss South Africa. Two years later, an 18-year-old secretary from Durban, Penny Coelen, was crowned and would later go on to make history and win Miss World. It was not until 1977 that all persons of all races were allowed to compete in the Miss SA competition. Prior to that, people of colour competed in the Miss Africa South pageant, which was renamed Miss Black South Africa in 1977. This was just the beginning for the Miss South Africa organisation; of the 60 women who have worn the crown, only the last 27 winners have been chosen from the entire population of South Africa and not just white individuals. Since then, hundreds of young women have entered the pageant vying for the title. Miss South Africa (or a runner-up in some instances) has always competed at Miss World, but the first Miss South Africa to compete at Miss Universe was Kerishnie Naicker in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Prior to 1998, South Africa's representatives at Miss Universe qualified via other national pageants. Three Miss South Africas, namely

Rolene Strauss Rolene Strauss (born 22 April 1992) is a South African beauty queen who won Miss South Africa 2014 and was later crowned Miss World 2014. She is the third South African woman to be crowned Miss World, after Penelope Anne Coelen in 1958 and A ...

Anneline Kriel Anneline Kriel (born 28 July 1955) is a South African actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss South Africa 1974 and was later crowned Miss World 1974. She is the second of three South African women to hold the Miss World titl ...

and

Penelope Coelen Penelope Anne Coelen (born 15 April 1940) is a South African former actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss World 1958. She was the second major international titleholder to come from Africa. Early life Penelope Anne Coelen was from Dur ...

, have won the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

titles in 2014, 1974 and 1958 respectively. Three women from South Africa have won the title of

- Margaret Gardiner in 1978,

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters Demi-Leigh Tebow ( ; née Nel-Peters; born 28 June 1995) is a South African model and beauty queen best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2017. She was crowned Miss South Africa 2017, and the second Miss Universe winner from South ...

in 2017 and

Zozibini Tunzi Zozibini "Zozi" Tunzi (born 18 September 1993) is a South African model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2019. Tunzi had previously been crowned Miss South Africa 2019. She is the third woman from South Af ...

in 2019. Prior to the establishment of the official Miss South Africa, South African Pictorial ("The Union's National Weekly") held annual Beauty Competitions starting in 1923. This evolved later into Miss South Africa. The first winner of this prize was Mrs. Doris Ferramosca (née

Doris Gwendoline Helliwell Doris Gwendoline Helliwell (born 16 December 1895) was an English pianist and beauty pageant titleholder. She was a renowned concert pianist in early Johannesburg, South Africa and was awarded Honours in the Associate in Music examinations throu ...

). In 2020, Miss South Africa franchised the

Miss Supranational Miss Supranational is an annual international beauty pageant, started in 2009, and with most contests held in Poland. A parallel male contest, Mister Supranational, was launched in 2016, also in Poland. The current organizers of Miss and Mist ...

license. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Miss South Africa 2021,

Lalela Mswane Lalela Lali Mswane (born 27 March 1997) is a South African beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Supranational 2022. She previously won Miss South Africa 2021 and was second runner up at Miss Universe 2021. Early life and education Mswane was ...

became the first South African woman have won the title of

International crowns by year

Miss World 1958 Miss World 1958 was the eighth edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Lyceum Theatre, London, Lyceum Ballroom in London, United Kingdom on 13 October 1958. At the end of the event, Marita Lindahl of Finland crowned Penelope Anne Coele ...

Miss World 1974 Miss World 1974 was the 24th edition of the Miss World pageant, held on 22 November 1974 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. The event was viewed by an estimated 30 million people, and was a "Wide World Special" on the ABC Tele ...

* Margaret Gardiner,

Miss Universe 1978 Miss Universe 1978 was the 27th Miss Universe pageant, held on 24 July 1978 at the Centro de Convenciones de Acapulco in Acapulco, Mexico. It was the first time in the pageant's history that the event was held in Mexico. Margaret Gardiner of S ...

Miss World 2014 Miss World 2014 was the 64th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the ExCeL London in London, United Kingdom, on 14 December 2014. Megan Young of the Philippines crowned Rolene Strauss of South Africa as her successor at the end of t ...

Miss Universe 2017 Miss Universe 2017 was the 66th Miss Universe pageant, held at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 26 November 2017. At the end of the event, Iris Mittenaere of France crowned Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa as Miss Unive ...

Miss Universe 2019 Miss Universe 2019 was the 68th Miss Universe pageant, held at Stage 1 of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on 8 December 2019. At the end of the event, Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa was crowned as Miss Universe 2019 by ...

Miss Supranational 2022 Miss Supranational 2022 was the 13th edition of the Miss and Mister Supranational, Miss Supranational pageant, held on 15 July 2022, at Strzelecki Park Amphitheater in Nowy Sącz, Poland. Chanique Rabe of Namibia crowned Lalela Mswane of South ...

Titleholders

International Competitions

;List of Titleholders under Miss South Africa Organization The following women have represented South Africa in two of the Big Four major international beauty pageants for women. These are

and

;

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international major beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest page ...

and

Miss Earth Miss Earth is an annual international major beauty pageant based in the Philippines that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, it is one ...

are held by separate national beauty pageants in South Africa.

Miss Universe South Africa

::''On some occasions, the winner of Miss South Africa represents her country at the

pageant. Prior to 1982, the winner of the Miss RSA pageant represented South Africa at Miss Universe. Prior to 1998, the winner of the individual Miss Universe South Africa compete at Miss Universe. From 1981-1983 and in 1979, delegates from two of South Africa's

Bantustans A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu homeland, a black homeland, a black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of the Union of South Africa (1910–1961) and later the Republic of Sout ...

competed at Miss Universe.''

Miss World South Africa

::''On some occasions, the winner of Miss South Africa represents her country at the

pageant. From 1970 to 1976, South Africa had one white and one black representative at Miss World. The white representative wore a sash that said "South Africa" and the black representative wore a sash that said "Africa South".''

Miss Supranational South Africa

::''Miss South Africa Organisation held the Miss Supranational franchise in 2020 and send 1st runner-up, Thato Mosehle. From 2021 onwards, the winner of Miss South Africa will be competing in Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Supranational when her schedule permits or won any of the international title.''

References

Notes

External links

Official Miss South Africa website
{{Miss Supranational countries and territories

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Recurring events established in 1956 1956 establishments in South Africa South African awards