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Shudu wins ‘Beauty with a purpose’ at Miss World, hours before pageant is postponed
The Miss World finale has been rescheduled at the Puerto Rico Coliseum Jose Miguel Agrelot.
Pictures: Instagram
Former Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musiḓa has been taking South African’s breath away while representing the country at the Miss World 2021 pageant in Puerto Rico.
Shudu, as she’s commonly known, arrived in Puerto Rico on 22 November, sharing her beautiful outfits and her journey in the run-up to the pageant with her Instagram fans on a daily basis.
The Miss World hopeful has been flying the South African flag high during the preliminary competitions and interviews, having already bagged a “win” for the country.
Shudu took to Instagram to announce the exciting news that she won “Beauty with a Purpose”, a programme that helps contestants raise funds for their chosen beneficiaries. The winner of this prize automatically makes the quarter finals in the competition’s finale show.
The former Miss South Africa’s charity focuses on mental health awareness.
When asked during her interview what movement she would mobilise, Shudu said she would call her movement the “mindful movement”, explaining that suicide is one of the leading causes of death in people aged 15 to 21 years, also adding that 1 in 3 people will suffer from mental illness in their lifetime.
She has always been passionate about this topic, having launched her #MindfulMondays initiative together with the SA Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag), in February this year.
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Taking to social media to announce this amazing win to her fans and followers, Shudu said “through ‘Mindful Mondays’ and ‘Shudu finds her Magic’ we have created a space for so many to share their stories, to listen, to learn and to start the journey towards mental health and wellbeing”.
She also thanked the Miss World organisation for recognising the work that she had done, as well as everyone else who played a part in the campaign.
Miss World postpones broadcast finale
Mere hours after Shudu’s “win”, the Miss World organisation announced in a media statement that the global broadcast finale would need to be temporarily postponed due to due to “health and safety interest of contestants, staff, crew and general public”.
The decision was made after several contestants and staff tested positive for Covid-19.
The competition was set to take place on 16 December but will now be rescheduled within the next 90 days.
Contestants and staff will first have to spend time in quarantine before they will be able to return to their home countries.
“Once and only when contestants and staff are cleared by health officials and advisors, will contestants and related staff return to their home countries,” the statement read.
