Three Miss SA hopefuls who made headlines for the wrong reasons

The 2023 Miss SA pageant is well underway with the queen soon to be named. This year, unlike a the few years before, was not without controversy. While everyone loves the glitz and glamour behind the event, for some contestants, it ended in tears after their pasts came back to bite them in the behind.

Lets take a look at why the following three contestants decided to back out of the competition in recent years.

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Behind the glitz and glam: Three controversial Miss SA hopefuls

Miss SA 20: Bianca Schoombee

In 2020, Miss SA contestant Bianca Schoombee announced that she was withdrawing from the glamourous pageant.

The reason for this? Old tweets. The young Miss SA hopeful’s past came back to haunt her in the form of highly offensive Twitter posts which re-emerged and almost instantly sparked outrage.

While the tweets were posted when she was fourteen years old, many demanded that she be removed from the competition for being racist.

In one tweet she made reference to the “N-word” and repeatedly used the word “b*tches”. She also made other controversial statements.

She later apologised for the tweet while adding that she has prayed about her past.

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Thulani Ndzotyana

Just two years later another contestant faced backlash after she was accused of being a rapist apologist.

Many called on Miss SA Top 30 finalist Thulani Ndzotyana to withdraw from the pageant after she allegedly defended her rugby player ex-boyfriend, Khwezi Mafu, when he was arrested for rape in 2018.

Thulani denied the allegations saying that they had separated at the time of his arrest.

ALSO READ: Miss SA Top 30: Thulani Ndzotyana slams ‘rapist apologist’ claims

Levern José

This year, the pageant was hit with more controversy after Miss South Africa top 12 finalist Levern José also withdrew from the competition.

This after numerous women came forward to accuse Levern of having bullied them in high school — some even claimed that she was “the ringleader of a bullying squad”.

She later released a statement offering her sincere apologies while adding that she “would never intentionally cause hurt or contribute to someone else’s suffering.”

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