History made as SA crowns its first ever Mr and Miss Albinism

Sizwe Sibiya

The Godfrey Mphatswe Foundation has made history by crowning their first ever Mr and Miss Albinism in South Africa: Lerato Sethibe from the Free State, and Brian Makhubela from Mpumalanga.

Having postponed the event multiple times because of the pandemic, SA was finally able to follow in the footsteps of other African countries, such as Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania who have been holding the competition for years to create awareness of albinism.

Founder of the pageant and a finalist for Mr South Africa 2016, Godfrey Mphatswe, crowned the first Queen and King of Albinism at an event held at the Victory Theatre in Houghton, Johannesburg on Saturday, 30 October. 

Mphatswe, who served for a short while as a board member of Mr South Africa, said he was inspired by similar pageants which he was invited to judge in Zimbabwe and Malawi. 

He said the competitions provide a space in which people with albinism can share their experiences.

“I would meet people with albinism and I would have conversations with them on how they feel, what their challenges are and so on,” Mphatswe told Scrolla.Africa.

“I realized that they feel left out, like no one cares about them. You know it is so hard for them to even get employment because they have special needs,” said Godfrey, adding that poor vision and blindness is the biggest challenge for people with albinism.

Meanwhile, among the 15 finalists who were in the finals, first runner-ups of the pageant Mr Paul Moroe and Miss Sasekani Masingi were named Activists for Mr and Miss Albinism SA.

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