23 Sep 2024

The Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) has injected P50 000 into the Miss RADP beauty pageant initiative in a bid to support and grow the pageant in the North West region.

 When handing over the donation during the beauty pageant held over the weekend at the Life Centre, the BTO chief executive officer, Ms Keitumetse Setlang, pledged her organisation’s support and commitment to be part of the great initiative saying it needed more resources in order to be successful.

“As an organisation, we commit to be part of this pageant and we will continue to support it. I would like to urge all of you to do the same thing to support the initiative because it can only be successful through your individual contributions,” she stated.

Masses thronged the Life Centre Hall to witness 24 young women and men battling it out to book a spot at the national level. Contestants were from settlements of Khwai, Mababe, Phuduhudu and Somelo.

Ms Setlang appreciated the importance of the pageant and that the district has a good record of winning at nationals as on  it scooped position one and first runner-up three times. She expressed confidence that the crowned contestants would also make the district proud again.

The initiative aims at promoting gender empowerment under the auspices of the affirmative action framework for remote area communities. Ms Setlang pointed out that the pageant showed that the district was committed to promoting social inclusiveness and empowerment of the youth in the settlements.

She acknowledged that the initiative does not only empower young women and men with invaluable skills but also contributes towards promoting cultural tourism in the region and plays a big role in the development of tourism.

She said the region hosts one of the best tourist destinations in the world, the famous Okavango Delta, and acknowledged that the area also prides itself with unique and diverse rich culture, which could be marketed as a tourism product in the areas where the contestants came from. She challenged the community to take their culture seriously and develop it for economic benefits saying they have wonderful untold and unknown stories to share with the world.

Ms Setlang also noted that the pageant has gained significant popularity in the previous years and motivated young people to continue taking part in it to become change agents.

North West District Commissioner, Mr Thabang Waloka, said the pageantry was an empowerment initiative targeting the youth from remote areas noting that it seeks to promote talent identification, inclusiveness as well as avail opportunities for the contestants to showcase their God given talents to improve their livelihoods as well as of their communities.

He said the district has taken the initiative seriously as evidenced by the Miss RADP previous queens and kings who outclassed others at the national stage and commended the social workers for doing their best in terms of preparations and organisation of the events.

He encouraged everyone to ensure that the winners’ projects, which are part of the winning package, take off so that their dreams become a reality adding that, “as a district, we want to be recognised globally through this special initiative”.

 The Council Secretary, Thatayotlhe Balapi, said soon they would include the newly established settlement of Qhorotsha in the pageantry, which he said had grown and producing positive results.

He said since its inception, the district has been doing exceptionally well at the national level as the majority of the winners and first runners-up came from the region.

 In the ladies category, Kenewe Lewis from Phuduhudu emerged the queen while Pearl Masalela, also from Phuduhudu, and Agisanyang Ketsile from Somelo settled for first and second princesses respectively.

In the male category, the Somelo-born Mooketsi Ndeke was crowned the king with Antony Masalela of Phuduhudu emerging first prince and Kamogelo Galeboife of Khwai becoming the second prince. ENDS