Miss Earth South Africa 2022 is Ziphozethu Sithebe

Young women in South Africa have always been encouraged to become environmental ambassadors by the Miss Earth South Africa organisation.

Today, we face more environmental challenges, after an unprecedented two years. The climate emergency needs to be addressed head-on. Who better to champion this cause than the Miss Earth ambassadors rooted in their communities and inspired by an organisation with a history of science, community, education and empowerment?

A perfectly inspired spring announcement was hosted at the Southern Sun Rosebank in Johannesburg where the 10 Miss Earth South Africa finalists from across South Africa gathered. They were sharing their journey, engaging and an opportunity for the organisation to unpack some of the exciting programmes, projects and campaigns that have made up the year 2022.

Crowning Miss Earth 2022

Celebrating almost two decades of environmental advocacy, community service and another generation of Green Leaders who form part of the strong fold of young women, 22-year-old Ziphozethu Sithebe from Centurion was crowned Miss Earth South Africa 2022.

With an avid passion for aviation and the green innovation within this space, she has been hard at work over the past few months with her greening projects and campaigns.

Sithebe is joined by her runner-up, Nthabiseng Kgasi, a marketer and home girl from Protea Glen, this former Miss Soweto is 27 years old and is no stranger to the media space.

Included in the line-up of announcements, two ambassadors were announced to complete the top four.

Knysna beauty, Angelique Fourie is a BA Corporate Comms graduate and passionate about sustainability and community development. She is joined in the top four by KwaZulu-Natal’s Melissa Lederle from Pietermaritzburg who is currently completing her PhD on Climate Change, Refugees and 21st Century Scenarios.

Sithebe will represent South Africa later this year in the Philippines for the 2022 Miss Earth.

In 2019 Professor Thuli Madonsela stated in a video message, the quote below, and today her words remain engraved and powerful to each new cohort of young women who apply to be part of this programme: “It is all our responsibility to understand a small inaction can have grave consequences for the country, continent and the world.”

She went on to say, “These young women of the Miss Earth programme have the greatest commitment to creating change.”

Choosing the best one

In early September 2022, a panel of judges spent the day with the young women who unpacked their community projects and work. The judges included the CEO of the Green Development Foundation, Rebecca Ngaka, Melina Lambrakis, the director of the Europa Art group, world-renowned designer and the man behind the world-famous Madiba Shirt, Sonwabile Ndamase and broadcasting giant Leanne Manas, a face and personality that is no stranger to South Africans.

Off the back of a period in time that sent the world into a spin, we now return to a sense of ‘normality’ but we have stepped back into a world where the impact of climate change continues to pain and wreak havoc in communities, cities and countries throughout the world.

Closer to home the devastating floods earlier this year devastated KwaZulu Natal and issues around water shortages and even the electricity crisis can all be linked and tied back to the fact that we have not addressed a changing climate and addressed the challenges that science has told us about for decades.

With a passionate commitment and mission to change the perception and understanding of climate change, the impact of environmental degradation and the crucial waste, water and food security paradigm, the Miss Earth South Africa organisation is firmly committed to ensuring that through campaigns such as the #WasteStopsWithME they can be on the ground, in cities and communities across the country – from Johannesburg to Tshwane, KwaZulu Natal and Cape Town, Eldorado and Soweto, Alexandria to Gugulethu, to name but a few.

Communities were engaged, clean-ups were hosted and communities gathered, to understand and engage the topic at a local level.

In other programmes food security, ocean protection, eWaste, conservation and illegal wildlife trade, are but a few of the focus areas that are tackled each year.

“Finalists demonstrate clear leadership qualities, creative thinking, the strength of the mind and character and most importantly a passion for making a sustainable difference in their communities.

“Each year it is immensely rewarding to see the growth and influence of the Miss Earth South Africa programme. For more than sixteen years we can confidentially say that we have empowered, educated and encouraged young women from around South Africa to become Environmental Ambassadors,” said Ella Bella Leite, director of the programme.

“Heroes don’t live in storybooks. They live amongst us and we as the Miss Earth Leadership Programme have to ensure we empower and inspire these young women to be active citizens and be those heroes we need in society to allow us to change the problems we face on a social, community level and linking that to the environmental impact we are faced with as a society.

“We are faced with a climate emergency and we have no time to lose. We believe that these young women will take the #GreeningMinds into every sphere of their communities and platforms of influence as they set the agenda and shift behaviour, mindsets and the future we strive for. Their time is now,” said Catherine Constantinides, executive director of Miss Earth South Africa and also an international climate activist and human rights defender.