By Kabelo Mollo
This weekend was like no other in my life. This seems to be happening more and more to me. I seem to be experiencing life changing events one after the other. I cannot wait for one of them to make me rich, but that’s a story for another day. Malcolm Gladwell will you tell you to put in your ten thousand hours, so I suppose you can chalk up the experience to that old chestnut.
I was a judge in the Miss Lesotho pageant, something I would never have imagined doing even six months ago. I would never have even imagined taking it seriously when someone asked me to do it. In fact, I said as much when the organiser Ms Monyake enquired around my availability to do the job. It was almost other worldly, like somebody asking you whether you’d like to take a ride in a space ship…
Miss Monyake, or Mudu as I call her really outdid herself putting the event together. They titled this “the new era” and aggressively set out to make it a sparkling, shiny new era. Her and her team went about making the whole event more professional, more lively, and more worthwhile. It was the perfect advertisement for those who insist on bringing young people in to traditionally more senior dominated spaces. It was an ode to what pageantry is all about.
In the preliminary stages of judging I found myself getting way more involved than I could have imagined. I had abandoned my “oh please, beauty queens and their desire for world peace” and replaced it with a genuine respect, and search for an ambassador that would fly the country’s flag high at a Miss World competition. I was well and truly in to it, and my fellow judges were too. We were not taking the business of finding the new eras defining moment lightly.
I found myself scoring the contestants strictly and expecting high standards from them. I had something of an out-of-body experience. Watching myself judge the ladies’ catwalk sashay, and judging their composure and poise. And for the most part, the ladies really stepped up. There were no chancers merely around for a good time and social media infamy. No, these were ladies who were both serious, and passionate about themselves, and the competition. A marvel to behold.
On the actual day of Miss Lesotho which was this past Saturday, the organising team had constructed a really aesthetically pleasing event. From the holding area prior to the event, to the routines the girls played out. Wonderfully choreographed and expertly executed, it was like watching one of the international pageants I watched as a young lad.
The girls were more confident than in the preliminary stages, which was strange when you consider there was an actual crowd and this was the real deal unlike the closed session we had during the week. It’s worth mentioning that this was the first Miss Lesotho beamed out in to the world, and the social media numbers show that this spectacle was one people wanted to see for themselves. Hopefully corporates took heed and will do something about that as the new era continues.
And now the girls. I have been waxing lyrical about them since the event. The top three really did well, and placed their best proverbial feet forward. The winner Tiiseetso Seliane and her two runners up Poelano Mothisi, and Rapelang Ntsane were tremendously great value for their placements. The three of them all impressed us judges, as well as those watching. I was content with the judges’ work after the event, but have gone even further than contentment since then.
On Monday the three ladies came in to studio to do their first radio interview on my show “The Big Time” and they were even better than on the night of the competition. They were articulate, poised and gracious. They vowed to work hard, and work together to ensure that Tiiseetso’s reign is triumphant and successful. They vowed to ensure that the new era is a moment in time we will never forget.
They all have different strengths and as a team they make a formidable unit. Tiiseetso is articulate and wonderfully poised, Poelano is passionate and well-spoken while Rapelang is a bundle of energy with a well grounded understanding of what the three of them are about. They are exactly the kind of representation the country and the competition deserve!
If putting young people in decision making positions is going to yield this kind of fruit, then we’re going to be just fine going forward. The new era is upon us, and has brought with it three royals, as my co-host Bella put it.
