LOCAL beauty Shanika Bongela has been selected as one of the top 20 Miss Commonwealth SA finalists.
Shanika, who is from Uvongo, was selected from hundreds of women who wished to take part in the grand finale which will take place at the Lyric Threatre at Gold Reef City on August 29.
Shanika (26) said she wasn’t expecting to make it through to the top 20. “It came as a surprise to make it through to this stage. The competition was really tough as there were lots of beautiful women from all over South Africa,” she said.
Shanika started modelling at the age of eight years and has won a few beauty titles such as Miss Vela Mtata High School.
She also ran her own beauty pageant, where she trained 38 girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Limpopo on how to model.
As a finalist Shanika will be expected to take part in a fund-raising project for a chosen charity, sponsorship initiation and other related pageant activities.
The pageant empowers women with the knowledge to bring about change to communities in need. And the winner will represent South Africa at the international pageant in London in November.
The pageant judges include Marilyn Ramos, who was Miss South Africa 2012, Isidingo actor Stephen van Niekerk, TV presenter Nadia Beukes, dancer and seasoned pageant judge Adele Loots and president of the Public Relations Institute of South Africa, Solly Moeng.
To help Shanika win you can sms Shanika to 42899.
