The Standard|Reigning Miss Zimbabwe Bongani Dlakama’s stay in China at the Miss World finals was a nightmare that she quickly wants to forget.

Besides going to the international contest without any grooming, the Miss Zimbabwe Trust sent her abroad with an empty purse.

She said she had to use her prize money for accommodation in Beijing where she spent a night before going to Mongolia.

She had to purchase a lot of other goods that were required for the event from her own purse.

“I had to buy my own dress for the final because a designer engaged by Miss Zimbabwe Trust told me just two days before I left for China that she had not been paid and had not made the dress,” lamented Dlakama.

“I bought the dress for about US$1 500 in South Africa and I spent US$500 on portraits of the Victoria Falls and the flame lily national flower that I had to take to the final for my national identity. There were many other requirements that I had to finance on my own.

“On my return I had to pay over US$800 for luggage and I think my total expenditure could exceed US$5 000 (half of the prize money she got for being crowned Miss Zimbabwe).”

Besides the financial stress, Dlakama said she felt very low in camp as she realised the higher level of preparedness of other models compared to her.

“The competition was intense and there was no way that I could have done well. It is not like I am giving an excuse for my failure but people have to know that what we do in the name of preparation for such a stage is nothing close to what is required.

“I had just two months to prepare in which there was no significant grooming that was done.”

Dlakama said she failed the Beauty with a purpose contest because she had no video footage of her cancer project that was mandatory.

“When I wanted to film the project before leaving for Miss World the Trust had no money to hire cameras and I could not do it myself because it was too expensive.

“It was embarrassing to hear other models saying they actually had choreographers training them three months before the contest when I failed to do dance lessons that cost just US$15.

“I really felt so low and I have to say it is time organisers become more serious about the pageant.”

She said organisers have to be more serious and pledged to assist the next national queen as much as she can.

She also bemoaned the fact that the licence holder for Miss Zimbabwe pageant, Cliff Sachikonye is not directly involved in the production of the pageant.

“Sachikonye is the United Kingdom while the pageant is going through such tough times. Even now as I am going back to Bulawayo the Trust cannot afford a mere bus ticket and that should say a lot,” said Dlakama.

The model arrived in the country on Tuesday on a low key after her failure to impress in China where she came back empty- handed.

She however said her stay in China was enlightening and had a great experience in the Asian country.

Kiki Divaris, patron of Miss Zimbabwe Trust last week said everyone knows the challenges that they faced and they should be grateful that Dlakama even managed to travel to China.

“There is a lot that has been happening, everyone knows that,” said Divaris.

“We were lucky to manage the holding of the pageant in the first place and she was lucky she travelled so I think that she failed to impress in China should not be an issue.”

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Timeline: The Maldives
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Maldives leader in ‘quit’ pledge
Supporters of ex-Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed have held rallies in the capital, Male, ahead of the release of a report into this year’s transfer of power.

The report is set to rule on whether Mr Nasheed was forced from power in February in a coup, as he has alleged.

Earlier, Mr Nasheed’s sole representative quit the panel, saying the results were biased and incomplete.

Security has been beefed up and police have called for calm.

Eyewitnesses said several hundred people demonstrated on Wednesday evening in support of Mr Nasheed, after the former president called on them to take to the streets.

Mr Nasheed, the country’s first democratic president, claims he was forced to quit in February under duress after soldiers and police mutinied in the capital, Male.

But his successor, Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, who had been serving as his vice-president, insists that Mr Nasheed left of his own accord after opposition-led protests.

‘Missing evidence’
The BBC’s Charles Haviland, in neighbouring Sri Lanka, says both forecast that the report will declare there was no coup – which would satisfy President Waheed and dismay Mr Nasheed.

“If the commission says it’s not a coup, then it’ll be big shock to all Maldivians. Nobody is going to believe it,” Hamid Abdul Gafoor, a spokesman for Mr Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party, told Reuters.

In dramatic resignation earlier, Ahmed “Gahaa” Saeed, Mr Nasheed’s nominee on the Commonwealth-backed inquiry, said the report was missing some key testimonies and photo, audio and video evidence.

Police have said they will not allow any unrest and have been carrying out searches on people on the streets and those arriving on boats to Male, according to local media.

The situation not just in Male but in other parts of the Maldives, too, is tense, our correspondent says.

Mr Nasheed, a reformist who spent years in jail or under house arrest, came to power in 2008 after beating long-time President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the country’s first ever polls.

Ipetu-Ijesa, Osun State, was struck with tragedy when a hunter, Igere Segun, who caught his friend and his wife making love in his bedroom and killed the wife. It was learnt that Segun raged at the sight of the two lovers in his bedroom, got hold of an iron and aimed a strike at the head of his friend. The friend, however, dodged as the iron hits his wife, Aina, on the head.

The friend immediately bolted from the room while the wife, who was bleeding profusely, was rushed to Olujobi Hospital in Ikeji Arakeji, where she died on the third day.
Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, Mrs. Kalafite Adeyemi, confirmed the incident, saying the police were on the trail of Segun’s friend, whose name he gave as Abiodun. According to the commissioner, “The incident happened last Thursday in Ipetu-Ijesa. It occurred between 10:50pm and 11pm. The husband had gone out, but unexpectedly came back late in the night.

“Ostensibly, he caught them red-handed and in an attempt to hit the man with an iron rod, he hit the wife, who was rushed to Olujobi Hospital in Ikeji Arakeji… She died the third day. The man is in custody while we are on the trail of the runaway lover. The case is being investigated.”