New Miss SA gets a call-up

18 December 2014 - 01:59 By Andile Ndlovu
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CROWN PRINCESS: Ziphozakhe Zokufa is awarded the Miss SA title in Sandton yesterday after Rolene Strauss won Miss World
CROWN PRINCESS: Ziphozakhe Zokufa is awarded the Miss SA title in Sandton yesterday after Rolene Strauss won Miss World
Image: ALON SKUY

Ziphozakhe Zokufa was modelling in Hong Kong when she was called, told to drop everything and return home to become Miss South Africa.

The 23-year-old inherited the crown after Rolene Strauss won the Miss World title on Sunday.

"Opportunities are meant to be taken," Zokufa said yesterday. "That is one of the reasons I entered Miss SA: to encourage our youth to go out there and grab opportunities."

Looking like she had no jet lag, the statuesque Zokufa smiled radiantly in a blue floor-length, figure-hugging dress (Gert-Johan Coetzee will design all three of her outfits for the Miss Universe pageant, to be held in Florida, US on January 25).

Zokufa said: "On hearing the news that Rolene had been crowned, I suddenly realised it was now my turn to fill the void."

Her father, Luyanda, mother Feziwe, brother Luyafezwa, and sister Sinqobile flew up to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth yesterday for the Miss SA ceremony.

Just four days ago, they were going about their own business, their daughter's finish as Miss SA runner-up a distant memory.

On Monday she called them and broke the news. "Do you think I should do it," the 23-year-old asked her mother nervously.

Two days ago, they were asked to attend the handover of the crown, and yesterday they sat side by side with Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula and former Miss SAs Claudia Henkel and Melinda Bam, cameras flashing in their faces.

"It was a surprise," said her father. "We know she has big shoes to fill, but we know she has the capacity."

Both parents are teachers, and, though they tried to steer her in the same direction, Zokufa chose to model and to study film.

Asked whether they had celebrated her achievement, the parents said "the journey is not finished" so they had not yet contemplated a party.

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