On Sunday, 12 December, the 2021 Miss Universe pageant took place at the Universe Dome, Port off Eilat in Irael. And the fact that Lalela Mswane decided to participate in the pageant has caused many debates.
Many South Africans, civil rights groups and political parties wanted Mswane to “boycott the pageant in protest against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians“.
It even came to the point that the South African government withdrew their support from Miss SA to compete in the Miss Universe competition.
But still, Lalela Mswane persisted with the support from the Miss SA organisers. And the organisers said that they cannot allow politics to play such a big role in the pageant and withhold Mswane from realizing her “life-long dream to represent South Africa on the international stage“.
Lalela Mswane coming back to SA proundly
And despite all the controversy caused, Mswane came out on top and made South Africa even more proud. Not only did she make it to the top three of Miss Universe, but she is walking away with the crown and title of Second Runner-Up.
Miss India, Harnaaz Sandhu, came in first.
And Mswane also gave a memorable answer for her last questions of the pageant. She was asked if tweets and social media comments from a person in their teenage years should be held against them years later?
She answered “I believe that everybody should be held accountable for their actions and if a person doesn’t know how to act on social media they should be cancelled. I believe in a cancel culture. In the same breath, I also believe in redemption culture and hoping that the person has matured, has learned better and can do better.”