The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town has honoured Miss Universe, Zozi Tunzi, with a plaque at its famous seal fountain outside the hotel in the V&A Waterfront. Tunzi is in the Mother City ahead of this year’s Miss South Africa pageant where she will also be a judge at the event. This year’s competition is taking place on Saturday night and is a first for Cape Town.

The plaques are placed around the bronze statue of Oscar, a Cape Fur Seal who became an integral and much-loved part of harbour life at the V&A Waterfront.

They commemorate the visits by famous people, whether kings or queens, heads of state, rock stars, and even England’s riotous Barmy Army, who once famously drank the hotel’s bar dry.

Tunzi is now part of an elite club.

The five-star Table Bay Hotel has been closed for seven months and opens its doors in time for the illustrious event.  The COVID-19 pandemic had a big impact on both the reign of Miss Universe as well as the current Miss South Africa, Sasha-Lee Laurel Olivier.

It highlighted issues that they both feel strongly about.

Tunzi says one of these issues is gender-based violence.

“Gender-based violence, the numbers literally within one or two weeks of lockdown, all over the world, sky-rocketed. It wasn’t even a SA thing, it was global. I always say, the louder we scream and the more we do it in numbers, the more it amplifies and the more it reaches many places. That’s why we’re always happy to have platforms such as Miss SA and Miss Universe to bring the women forward who are not afraid to use their platforms and their voices to make a positive change in the world.”

Olivier says everyone should do their part.

“There’s been so much work that needs to be put in right now, and it’s necessary. And I think we need to make the shift from ‘Am I Next to What Next’ because we need to start making a tangible difference within this space.  It’s one thing to speak about something, but it’s another to actually effect change.  I think that’s where our focus needs to be now.”

In a few days, the new Miss South Africa will take over in a time of social distancing and many other challenges in a world battling the COVID-19 pandemic. – Author: Linky Bierman