Bright & Beautiful

The new Miss SA tells YOU about her passions, her unusual family and what she has planned for her reign.

- Shanaaz Prince

SHE loves koeksisters, milk tart, chops and wors and “a little piece of bread off the braai”. A homegrown beauty who’ll be channelling her love of the land into trying to make the country a better place.

It’s the day after the Miss South Africa crown was placed on the glossy head of Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters and the news still hasn’t sunk in properly.

Her life has changed overnight, something that was drummed home when she woke up the morning after the glitzy pageant at Sun City with two bodyguards stationed outside her suite at The Palace of the Lost City.

But she knew what she was getting into when she signed up for the competition, she says, and she’s more than prepared to throw herself into the year ahead.

“When I start something I finish it,” the 21-year-old business management graduate says. “I didn’t do this just to tick it off a bucket list. It’s something I’ve thought about.”

Among those watching her being crowned the loveliest in the land were four people who could barely contain their excitement: her close-knit clan of four parents. Dad Bennie Peters (53), stepmom Elzabé (43), mom Anne-Mari Steenkamp (56) and stepdad Johan (58).

It’s unusual for two sets of parents to be as close as this lot but it’s helped make Demi-Leigh’s life a happy, uncomplicated one. “We even have a parents’ WhatsApp group for the four of us and Demi-Leigh always tells us what she’s up to, no matter how busy she is,” Anne-Mari says.