Sukuma Mbokodo Assist Teams Aged Magnificence Contest winners 2nd Princess Alinah Tshonisile (left), 77, total winner Margaret Fatyela (middle), 78, and 1st Princess Lidia Mokoena (proper), 81, pose for {a photograph} after the prize giving ceremony in Thokoza on Could 13, 2025. (Photograph by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
TOKOZA, South Africa — At 17, Joyce Malindi gained her first magnificence contest below the suffocating limits of apartheid South Africa. Fifty-five years later, she was again on the catwalk, silver curls gleaming and brown clogs clicking, in a pageant for grandmothers solely.
The occasion within the Tokoza township outdoors of Johannesburg featured prayers, speeches and a efficiency towards home violence, a nationwide scourge.
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However the principle attraction was on the pink carpet stretching down the neighborhood corridor the place grandmothers paraded with delight in a contest that’s uncommon among the many host of others for young women.
“This takes me means again, brings my youth again,” Malinda, a great-grandmother of 5, informed AFP, breaking right into a joyful jig to “Pleased Mama” by legendary jazz musician Hugh Masekela.
On this model of a magnificence contest there have been no swimsuit or night put on classes. As a substitute, ladies paraded of their Sunday finest, from sleeveless summer season frocks to daring orange headwraps, strings of pearls to conventional put on.
Floral materials and well-loved kitten heels hinted at celebrations previous.
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Supporters — largely ladies from the Sukuma Mbokodo Assist Group that organised the present — clapped, ululated and fiddled with their telephones to report the spectacle.
Margaret Fatyela (middle), 78, reacts after being introduced as the general winner of the Sukuma Mbokodo Assist Teams Aged Magnificence Contest in Thokoza on Could 13, 2025. (Photograph by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
Feeling ‘younger once more’
On the make-up nook, the highest request was for deep pink and berry toned lipsticks however most contenders selected to let their naked faces and shiny smiles shine. Close by, a teapot served cups of chai beside trays of scones.
“They don’t focus. When you find yourself doing their make-up they need to multitask, discuss, bark directions,” stated 19-year-old volunteer hairdresser Ntokoza Ntshinga.
The youngest contestant was 63 years outdated and the oldest 81.
Nevertheless it was septuagenarian Margaret Fatyela who took the silver-coated crown.
“We at the moment are like faculty youngsters,” she informed AFP, seated subsequent to her modest prize of tea set and a bag of toiletries.
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It was the primary time the previous home employee and mom of eight had entered a pageant.
“I really feel like I’m younger once more, able to doing every thing,” she stated, trying in the direction of the primary runner-up, Lidia Mokoena, who didn’t disguise her beard.
A normal view of the prizes through the Sukuma Mbokodo Assist Teams Aged Magnificence Contest in Thokoza on Could 13, 2025. (Photograph by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
‘Forgotten residents’
Organisers stated the occasion was meant to rejoice the grandmothers and great-grandmothers on whom South Africa’s largely impoverished society relies upon, even when they continue to be within the shadows.
Almost 4 in 10 youngsters are raised in properties headed by grandparents, in response to official knowledge, with many mother and father pressured to relocate for work, a excessive fee of teenage pregnancies and AIDS-related deaths among the many contributing elements.
“Typically occasions the minute they take pension they’re forgotten residents, and all they do is take care of great-grandchildren and grandchildren,” native official Bridget Thusi informed AFP.
“To have programmes like this the place they’re celebrated and to neglect the issues at dwelling was actually an incredible factor to see,” she stated.
For Malindim it was a lift after shedding her husband 4 years in the past.
“At our outdated age, we thought that perhaps as a result of our husbands are gone, every thing is gone, it’s the top of the world,” she stated.
However the occasion “picked our spirits up…taught us we’re nonetheless alive and life nonetheless goes on, we higher make ourselves the best grannies,” she stated, her brown eyes glowing.
