Pictures: Instagram @carolyn_botha and iStock
Beauty pageants are mostly associated with beauty and poise, but a voice clip of Miss World SA’s vice president, Carolyn Botha, allegedly making racist remarks has rubbed Azapo deputy president, Kekeletso Khena, the wrong way.
Khena took to Twitter on Monday to share a voice clip in which a woman can be heard making racist remarks about shoppers at a mall.
“I told them to leave. And she wasn’t late, she was on time. She was there at 9am, an hour before she was supposed to be there, in a k****r infested mall. So, would you want to stand around there for four hours waiting for someone to maybe bring pads and tins,” a woman says in the 17-second voice clip.
According to Khena, the voice belongs to Carolyn Botha. Khena told The Citizen she heard the voice note for the first time on 15 July, after it was shared with her allegedly by someone close to Botha. She also noted Botha denied it was her speaking on the voice clip when she messaged her, claiming the voice clip was fake.
The Citizen reached out to Botha, who in an email stated the matter is currently sub judice. “I did not state those words and am in the process of having the message authenticated,” she wrote in the email.
She also phoned the publication and when asked where the voice clip came from, Botha claimed it was AI generated.
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Khena says after hearing the voice note she sent Botha a message telling her if she dislikes black people so much, she must leave the country, and she will even help her pack.
Botha says she has received a number of death threats and other threats, including one from Khena, and she has since opened a case against the Azapo deputy president at the Benoni Police Station.
“Both myself and Kekeletso Khena were at the Benoni Saps and neither of us recognised each other, so I fail to understand how she could have a case against me,” Botha wrote in her statement to The Citizen.
Khena confirmed she was at the Benoni Police Station where she met Botha with three lawyers. She alleges the lawyers told her Botha was also opening a case against her.
However, according to Botha, the three other people present were her lawyer, and two other people from the police station who introduced the two to each other.
Khena told The Citizen she does not have a problem with Botha at all, apart from her racist behaviour.
“If you hate black people so much, you should not be profiting off them and is exactly what is happening with the beauty pageants she is involved in,” Khena said.
She added: “Botha is racist and arrogant and should not be in a position of power”.
“One wonders what the outcome of this competition will be,” she said.
Botha claims Khena is on a witch hunt because she [Botha] is involved in the beauty pageant. She did give reasons why she would be targeted for being involved with Miss World SA.
Botha made it very clear during the phone call that she and Khena have never met before, nor do they know each other through social media.
According to a report by Sunday World, the licence to host the Miss World SA was previously held by Sun International, custodians of the Miss South Africa pageant, but was granted to Carol Bouwer Productions (CBP) in May.
In June, Carol Bouwer, the owner of Carol Bouwer Productions announced the Miss World SA pageant will be hosted in Soweto, at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg, at the end of October.
During the two-day Soweto Investment Conference in June, Bouwer explained Sun International, which runs the Miss South Africa pageant, used to send someone to Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss Supranational, and various other pageants, but this process would no longer work.
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“Now the Miss World office has given CBP the responsibility to send a rep to them. It means the person that wins Miss SA this year cannot go to the Miss World pageant,” Bouwer explained at the conference.
The international Miss World competition is taking place in December, in India, and the Miss World SA winner will represent South Africa in the global pageant.
Brigadier Mathe confirmed to The Citizen that Khena opened a case of defamation of character on Friday, 21 July, at the Benoni Police station. He said the case has been transferred to Krugersdorp Police Station where it will be investigated. No arrests have been made.
Mathe also confirmed Botha opened a case of intimidation against Khena at Benoni on the same day. He said an investigation is underway and no arrests have been made yet.
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