Malaika Mushandu

  Zimbabwe                            Malaika Mushandu

                                   Represent Zimbabwe at Miss World 2011

Profile
Name               Malaika Mushandu
Age                  18 yo
Height              1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Hometown        Harare
Title                  Miss Zimbabwe 2011 (Winner)


Biography
Malaika Mushandu was crowned Miss Zimbabwe 2011. She is 18 year old and stands 6′. She will represent Zimbabwe in MISS WORLD 2011.Mushandu also won the Top Model and Photogenic awards. Lungile Mathe, Paula Machaya, Nadia Gore, Melisa Chikerema, Sandra Chanakira, Tanyaradzwa Chikuni and Kimberly Cole completed the Top 10.



Malaika Mushandu is Miss Southern Africa Zimbabwe
(Source zimbojam.com)

Malaika MushanduEighteen year old Malaika Mushandu was last night crowned Miss Southern Africa Zimbabwe at a well attended event held at the Holiday Inn in Bulawayo. First runner up was Rumbi Mudzengerere (21) and second runner up was Evelyn Gondo (21). Over 250 people packed into the venue where Governor Cain Mathema was expected to officially launch the annual pageant, but could not attend and sent a representative instead.

Left: Malaika Mushandu.
Inaugural Miss Southern Africa Zimbabwe.

The latter was also voted Miss Personality by the other contestants. All three girls are members of the Zim Gossip Models Modelling Agency in Harare. Mailaika was the winner of the inaugural Model Extravaganza last year and Rumbi, just last week was crowned second princess at Miss Universities.

The two girls will travel to Namibia next month along with winners from other southern African countries for the pageant’s grand finale on November 27 in Windhoek.

Fourteen contestants from Harare and Bulawayo took part in the pageant which was held under the theme "Celebratign the Beauty and Culture of Southern Africa" and marred by financial constraints on the part of the organisers, AM Model Management.

Firstly, the pageant organisers would not tell the contestants what the prizes for the winners were- up until they very day of the pageant when they finally said that he prizes were US$500, $300, $100 and $100 for the winner, first runner up, second runner up and Miss Personality respectively.

The girls were not happy with this as they said it came nowhere near to covering the costs of preparing for the pageant. For instance, Malaika’s evening gown for the pageant cost her R3 500 (Approx US$500). Not to mention shoes, accessories, other outfits, hair and nails.

One of the judges who was supposed to come from Harare allegedly refused to take part after he was told he would have to take care of his own transport and accommodation costs.

Then the quality of the ramp was also questionable and the unsteady structure threatened to send one of the models falling off all evening. The organisers also had to mark certain parts of it that had holes with paper so that the models would know not to step there.

Once the winners had been announced it turned out that the pageant organisers did not have enough money to send the first two girls to the finals in Namibia as originally promised. They only had the resources to send one girl. In an altruistic turn of events, Malaika, offered to give up her return ticket to Namibia so that she could fly to the finals with Rumbi and then the two of them could return by bus together. She told The Zimbo Jam, “As people from one country we are a family and so we must stick together to represent Zimbabwe.”