Behind The Sash

Has pageantry become more representative? Danielle Bowler goes behind the scenes at the Miss South Africa pageant to find out what it ’s like to compete as the first openly queer contestant

- Danielle Bowler

As a child, I religiously watched Miss South Africa in cross-legged rapture.

When Jo-Ann Strauss appeared onscreen in 2000, mentioning ‘grassroots levels’ while answering a question, I did not know what that meant, but I knew that she was brilliant and from my community. I felt represented – even as I quietly measured up the standards reflected onscreen, and how I fell short. I knew beauty had borders.

Fast-forward to 2019, as Sibabalwe Gcilitshana made history when she strutted down the Times Square Sun Arena stage in a Mantsho gown. With dreadlocks and a frenulum piercing, the 24-year-old UCT graduate was the pageant’s first openly queer contestant.

According to the LGBTQIA Resource Center, ‘Some people have reclaimed the word “queer” and self-identify as such. For some, this reclamation is a celebration of not fitting into norms... For [others], “queer” is a radical and anti-assimilationist stance that captures multiple aspects of identities.’

‘I use “queer” because my sexuality is on a spectrum,’ Sibabalwe says. ‘I’m not going to label [myself] to make you [the world] feel comfortable. I’m still growing as a person. I don't want to just say, “Oh, I’m Siba the lesbian,” because it almost feels like I’m limiting myself and the experiences I’m still going to have.’

When her colleague at Equal Education first floated the idea of her entering the pageant, Sibabalwe answered in Millennial style: ‘LOL.’ But after realising that she could amplify her daily activism as a parliamentary officer and researcher at the NGO, she uploaded the application and ‘promptly forgot about it’. Weeks later, she made the Top 35. ‘I freaked [out],’ she says, sitting across from me at Great Eastern Food Bar in Melville, a day after the contest.