MISS UNIVERSE 2019 ZOZIBINI TUNZI ARRIVES HOME


Nokwanda Ncwane

Following her much anticipated arrival since her crowning moment, Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi is finally home!

The 68th Miss Universe winner landed at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg today. Scores of proud South Africans were already waiting at the airport to welcome the 26 year old home.

Tunzi is home for the first time since she was crowned Miss Universe on 9 December 2019 at the Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia where the beauty contest was held.

Addressing the thousands of people at the airport, the previously crowned Miss South Africa said "Thank you so much for being here, I know that all of you guys woke up early and it was raining, but you committed to being here today. That is so special and it means so much to me."

She also added that she has been feeling the love of South Africa since she got crowned Miss South Africa, even before taking the Miss Universe stage. "While I was walking on the Miss Universe stage, I knew that I was there as one body but as I stood on that stage, I stood as millions of South Africans and for that I want to thank you so much." She said.

Lungisa Tunzi, Zozibini's father said he feels great and can not wait for his daughter to come home. "The day is finally here, we are patiently waiting for her to come home and it's awesome," He said.

Now that she is home, Zozibini added that she hopes her first meal will be umngqusho (samp) and is looking forward to blasting local song Phoyisa, by DJ Maphorisa and Cassper Nyovest. The song took social media by storm, resulting in the #phoyisa and #phoyisachallenge.

Zozibini Tunzi: Miss South Africa 2019

Zozibini Tunzi, the 2019 crowned Miss South Africa.   Image from Twitter/Zozi Tunzi.

Zozibini Tunzi has been crowned the 2019 Miss South Africa on National Women's Day at Sun Arena in Time Square, Pretoria.

Tunzi, a 25 year old who is completing her BTech in Public Relations is originally from Tsolo, Transkei in the Eastern Cape, currently living in Cape Town. She represented the Western Cape Province in the Miss SA Contest.

The theme for this year's pageant was Dreamwalkers and the pageant aimed to break out of the narrow idea of what it means to be beautiful  and what it means to be a beauty queen. The organisers loosened the rules to make this year's competition more inclusive, embracing imperfections and the more typical, larger South African figure as there were two contestants labelled plus size according to the industry standards.

Many took to Twitter to congratulate the newly crowned beauty queen. Amongst others was Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa who tweeted "Congratulations to @ZoziTunzi for taking the #MissSA2019 crown. We were inspired by how you addressed questions around the paradigm shift necessary to pursue gender equality and we look forward to seeing you use this platform to be a positive influence and fly our flag high."

Zozibini is the 61st Miss South Africa and is taking over from last year's winner, Tamaryn Green also from the Western Cape who did exceptionally well during her reign scoring a runner-up spot at Miss Universe.