All-female creative team leads Miss South Africa pageant

For the first time in its 64-year-history, an all-female team is organising, producing, and directing the live Miss South Africa pageant and overseeing its debut offshoot reality television series Crown Chasers.

This is particularly pertinent considering the ethos of the Miss South Africa pageant and that the crowning takes place in Women’s Month in August.

The infusion of girl power has dramatically changed the way decisions are made, and the way things are run. Female empowerment, diversity, realising potential, compassion, purpose, sound mental and physical health and advocacy are part of the new look Miss South Africa Organisation.

At the helm is Miss South Africa CEO, Stephanie Weil – renowned for her conceptualisation and revolutionary reimagining of the big pageant picture.

This year, the organisation appointed Black Swan Media and its all-female-led creative team as the producers and directors of the glittering finale which will be held on August 13 at Sun International’s flagship venue, SunBet Arena at Time Square Pretoria.

Weil said: “We were surprised, when we looked at the past, that there has never been an all-women team in charge of putting on the pageant that is aired live on television.
This year, everything about the pageant has a different look and feel. For the first time in the pageant history, I appointed a reality crew to follow the Top 10 on their journey to the finale and record behind-the-scenes moments. The result makes for really engrossing viewing.”

Relebogile Mabotja, Black Swan Media Executive Producer and the live Miss South Africa 2022 live pageant producer said: “Leading a team of women is just so exciting. Miss South Africa has never had a young black woman as an executive producer and series producer on two of their properties simultaneously. Nor have they had women in the roles of show director, technical director, and content director, with women on the crew doing art, sound, and digitising.”

She said it was scary that in 2022 this was something to celebrate because this should have always been the case. “I made a conscious decision years ago to open doors and break glass ceilings for others. What a full circle moment it is for me; I’m so proud. When I was eight years old, my parents took me – all dolled up – to watch Miss South Africa. It was so beautiful, the era of Jacqui Mofokeng. It became a thing we attended as a family. Fast forward three decades and I can proudly say I am the producer and executive producer of the show I watched as a little girl. So dreams are not only fulfilled on stage. They are also fulfilled quietly behind the scenes. Now isn’t that something,” said Mabotja.

Responsible for both the pageant finale and overseeing the reality show is one of South Africa’s most respected media bosses – with more than 15 years in the live, large-scale live-to-air production and filmmaking industries, having worked on events such as the SAFTAs, SAMAs, Glo CAF Awards – is creative director Azania Muendane.

Muendane described the new addition Crown Chasers as a “moment by moment reality show at its core” adding that she wanted to show how hard the finalists work, pushing through mental and physical barriers to remain ahead of their game.

“I take my hat off to any young woman who wants to take on such a mammoth role, it is a non-stop role with great opportunity for growth that requires unwavering commitment from the all the finalists and the ultimate winner. I was genuinely shocked to hear that I was the first female creative director on a Miss South Africa pageant in its entire history. That I am a black female is also a special moment for me. I’ve always wanted to be part of the team producing Miss South Africa so this is definitely a bucket list moment. I will ensure that the winner is presented to the world in the grandest fashion,” she said.

About Crown Chasers, Muendane said: “Viewers should look forward to meeting the real personalities before seeing the finalists on stage at the pageant.”

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