Mpumalanga's Bajabulise Thela has been crowned Miss Universe South Africa 2026. Here's everything to know about her.
Bajabulise Thela was crowned Miss Universe South Africa 2026 at the Barnyard Theatre in Menlyn on Saturday, 18 July 2026. Picture: Instagram/@africanbeautyinternational by Tshifunga Mwevu and Djeha
South Africa has a new queen to carry its flag onto the global stage. Bajabulise Thela was crowned Miss African Beauty Universe South Africa 2026 on Saturday evening, 18 July, at the Barnyard Theatre in Menlyn, with outgoing titleholder Melissa Nayimuli placing the crown on her successor.
The 23-year-old from KaNyamazane, Mpumalanga, now has her sights set on San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she’ll represent the country at the 75th Miss Universe pageant this November.
Getting to know Bajabulise Thela
Thela is a qualified flight attendant, model and marketing graduate, holding a degree in Marketing and Sales. Beyond the runway and the boardroom, she’s also the founder of the Mambane Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to fighting hunger and malnutrition in her community – a cause she has said will remain central to her platform during her reign.
based on publicly available information, her pageant résumé stretches back further than most.
In 2021, she made history as the first-ever Miss Teen Grand winner, and went on to hold the Miss Mpumalanga title in 2024, laying the groundwork for this year’s win.
Thela secured her title after making it through the Miss African Beauty South Africa process, which whittled a field of 30 finalists down to a top nine before Saturday’s final. On the same night, fellow Mpumalanga native Romanda Hombir was crowned Miss World South Africa 2026, and will represent the country in Vietnam this August.
Why this crowning looks different from previous years
If the road to this title felt unfamiliar, that’s because it was. South Africa’s pageant landscape has been reshaped over the past year, and Thela’s crown was awarded under an entirely new system.
Miss South Africa’s former CEO, Stephanie Weil, stepped down in July 2025 after six years at the helm, with the Motsepe Group of Companies subsequently taking over the organisation.
Since then, the Miss SA title has been deliberately decoupled from the major international pageants. Qhawekazi Mazaleni, crowned Miss SA in October 2025, was the first titleholder under this new direction – her reign focused squarely on causes within South Africa, rather than competing abroad at Miss World, Miss Universe or Miss Supranational.
Filling that international gap is African Beauty International (ABI), a separate company owned by former Miss South Africa 2010 and Miss World Africa 2011 titleholder Bokang Montjane-Tshabalala. ABI now holds the national franchise rights for Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Supranational in South Africa, running its own selection process through Miss African Beauty South Africa; the pipeline that produced Thela’s win.
Montjane-Tshabalala has been vocal about the ambition behind the new structure, pointing out that South Africa hasn’t produced a Miss World winner in over a decade, and that Zozibini Tunzi’s 2019 win remains the country’s most recent Miss Universe crown. Her stated goal is straightforward: get South Africa back on the podium.
What’s next for Bajabulise
Thela will spend the coming months preparing for the Miss Universe pageant. She joins Hombir (Miss World) and Shannon Benting, who was crowned Miss Supranational South Africa 2026 a month earlier, as the trio of queens flying South Africa’s flag internationally this year – all under ABI’s banner, entirely separate from the domestically focused Miss SA title.
