The newly-crowned Miss Mini Universe, Manqoba Vilakazi, was given a red-carpet welcome at Kimberley Airport.
THE NEWLY-crowned Miss Mini Universe, Manqoba Vilakazi, was given a red-carpet welcome at the Kimberley Airport by the MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture, Deserey Fienies, on Thursday.
The thirteen-year-old arrived to cheering and excited members of the community, as well as representatives of different modelling agencies and sponsors, waiting to welcome her home.
Manqoba arrived back in South Africa from Colombia on Wednesday, where she was also welcomed by excited fans and supporters at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
Words of appreciation were expressed to the Northern Cape Department of Sports, Arts and Culture for their role in making Manqoba’s trip to Colombia a success.
Sun International Flamingo Casino was also thanked for being one of the sponsors who played a huge role in supporting Manqoba on her journey.
Welcoming Manqoba home, Fienies said that the crowning of a local model on the international stage has woken the department to the need for assistance and support for young models in the Province.
This is after local models expressed concern that there is little to no support from the department in their sector.
Fienies said the department is looking at starting a programme to assist young models.
“From our side as a department, there is really an issue in terms of giving support to our young models in the Northern Cape. That is why the department is looking into some kind of programme to assist these young girls, because they don’t know where they belong,” said Fienies.
“An achievement like this one of Manqoba is a motivation to the young girls and for us to look at where and how we can help these young girls.”
Flamingo Casino started getting involved with Manqoba when she launched her school shoes donation programme in Kimberley.
The head of human resources at Flamingo Casino, Vukile Mjajubana, explained that they have partnered with her ever since then.
He said the Unamandla Foundation approached them when there were challenges in terms of making the trip a success.
“We then decided that we, as a company, don’t want a young person to be held back by a lack of financial resources. That is why we decided to help her with whatever we could afford to make this trip a success,” said Mjajubana.
“So Manqoba came back. Unqobile (she conquered),” he said proudly.
Mjajubana explained that they not only assisted Manqoba, but they have previously, and will continue to, meet their obligation of giving back to the community in which they operate.
“Anything that uplifts the community is our priority, it’s not only about modelling. We uplift the kids to reach their dreams.”
Manqoba expressed appreciation to all the role-players who made her journey to the international stage possible.
She said she will continue to spread her advocacy on autism awareness.
She added that she has been working with Bophelo House in Kimberley from the age of nine. “I was volunteering to raise funds, donating essentials.
“Some people don’t know how it feels to struggle with autism because some don’t even know how to handle it,” said Manqoba.
Motivating her peers, she urged them not to allow anyone to stop them from following their dreams.
“If your dream is modelling, never give up. Nobody should stop you.”
