Ballito’s beauty with brains is Mrs KZN

Her open personality, natural smile and drive to help and educate those in need made Justine de Klerk the clear winner at the recent Mrs KZN 2018 competition.

The Ballito Lifestyle Centre’s Dischem pharmacist is definitely not just a pretty face and said she chose to enter Mrs KZN because it is not a typical beauty pageant.

“I have never done pageants, but Mrs KZN is a philanthropic pageant, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to get involved in more outreach work which I really love,” said De Klerk, who lives in Ballito with her husband, Pieter and their fur family – two pugs, Jojo and Chichi, and Neris the cat.

Her passion for community work was ignited while she was doing her community service at Sundumbili Community Health Centre last year.

“Being able to work with people has always been my favourite and I loved working at Sundumbili, because the people were so warm. I also learnt to speak some Zulu.

“Seeing people who had nothing really stirred a desire in me to help.”

She started doing outreach work and activations about the importance of vaccinations for children specifically.

Then she found out about Mrs KZN and the community work they do with different charities.

With her husband’s encouragement, she entered and – much to her surprise – won the the competition and three awards: most photogenic, best interview and the philanthropist award.

“The scariest part was sitting in front of a panel of judges during the interview. I thought it went terribly, so I was all the more shocked when I won.”

Unlike normal pageants, Mrs KZN is open to anyone of any height or weight and no modeling or swimwear shows are included.

The entrants are judged based on their personality and charity work.

She said 10 Uit 10 Skryfbehoeftes were particularly helpful in donating stationary for her outreach work.

As part of her one-year reign, she will continue her charity work.

“My main focus will be Tekkie Tax and Poverty Sucks – a lollipop for charity, which is a campaign that sells R10 lollipops to raise money for education and skills development.”

When she is not dispensing medication or helping the poor, De Klerk enjoys visiting animal parks – her favourite animals being tigers and seals – and going to Thompsons tidal pool for a swim with her family.