Former Miss SA has announced her engagement and the pageant sisterhood has been quick to congratulate her.
Former Miss South Africa Ndavi Nokeri has announced her engagement. Picture: Instagram/@ndavi.nokerii
Ndavi Nokeri is engaged, and the Miss South Africa sisterhood has turned up in her comments.
The 2022 Miss SA took to Instagram on Tuesday, to share a video of her proposal. The clip opens with her receiving a dress, hand-delivered ahead of a romantic dinner, with a note that moved her to tears before the evening had properly begun.
A violinist then set the mood at a lakeside venue, where her partner delivered a heartfelt speech before dropping to one knee. The video ends with the couple at a dinner table, laughing shyly while Nokeri wipes away happy tears.
She captioned the video “10/10”, followed by ring, heart and infinity emojis.
The sisterhood shows up
If anyone doubted the Miss SA bond outlasts the crown, the comment section settled it.
Among those who congratulated her were Miss SA 2025 Qhawekazi Mazaleni, Miss SA 2024 Mia le Roux, Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi, Miss SA 2020 Shudufhadzo Musida and Miss SA 1994 Basetsana Kumalo.
Tunzi was the most effusive, writing, “OMG, babe! Congratulations, beautiful, wishing you all the happiness.” Kumalo kept it warm and brief with “Congratulations, darling.” Rapper Priddy Ugly also dropped in with a one-word “Blessings.”
Tunzi’s support is not new. Before Nokeri’s Miss Universe run in 2023, Sunday World reported that she felt ready to take on the competition after getting advice from Tunzi.
The publication also reported that Tunzi streamed the finale live on her own Instagram and affirmed Nokeri after she was eliminated in the top 16.
A big year for the sisterhood
It has also been a big year for the sisterhood. Per IOL, Nokeri joins beauty queens Mia le Roux and Melissa Nayimuli in celebrating love in 2026. Le Roux, who made history in 2024 as the first deaf woman to win the national title, recently married at La Paris Estate in Franschhoek.
From Tzaneen to the crown
Nokeri was born on 25 January 1999 and is from Tzaneen, Limpopo. She holds an investment management BCom degree from the University of Pretoria and worked for an asset management firm in Cape Town before winning the title.
She entered Miss SA in 2022 and was named in the Top 30 before going on to the finale. On Saturday, 13 August 2022, the then 23 year old bested nine other finalists at the SunBet Arena at Time Square in Pretoria.
Lalela Mswane crowned her successor at the star-studded ceremony. The win came with prizes and sponsorships worth more than R3 million, including R1 million in cash.
Fans had backed her from the start. In previous reporting, The Citizen highlighted how she was a fan favourite from the start, and Limpopo claimed the moment as its own. She succeeded fellow Limpopo queen Shudufhadzo Musida, who now features among her congratulators.
Ed-Unite and Miss Universe
Her reign had a clear focus: education. She launched her Ed-Unite campaign at Constitution Hill’s Women’s Prison on 13 October 2022, targeting R6 million in donations, spend or reserved projects by mid-January 2023.
In April 2023, she took the campaign to YouTube with the Ed-Unite Talks podcast series, which included an episode on period poverty with menstrual activist Candice Chirwa.
On the international stage, she represented South Africa at Miss Universe in New Orleans in January 2023, placing in the Top 16. Afterwards, she said she was looking forward to returning home to complete her reign and Ed-Unite.
She handed over the crown in August 2023. Her farewell message to her successor read: “And so it begins. Congratulations beautiful. May your reign be everything you imagined.”
Life after the crown
Since then, Nokeri has built a career beyond pageantry. In March 2026, Sowetan reported she was stepping into podcasting with The Full Circle Podcast with Ndavi Nokeri, a space designed to inspire and empower youth and women.
Regarding her fiancé, Nokeri has kept him out of the spotlight. She has chosen not to reveal his identity as yet. What is public comes from her video: he arranged a custom-made dress, a handwritten note and a candlelit dinner after the proposal.
