POLOKWANE – Gorgeous gowns, glitz and glamour, coveted tiaras, immaculately-coiffed hair and manicured nails, and the resultant perfect and polished contestants make up the pageant world. The Mrs South Africa pageant however, is not your typical beauty competition; it offers married South African women who have careers, families, and hobbies the chance to compete for the prestigious title of Mrs South Africa.
Refilwe Mogale (37) from Polokwane, is one of the contestants nominated in the Mrs South Africa Top 100 to represent our province. “I grew up in Solomondale, about 30 km outside Polokwane, and I currently stay in Bendor,” she said. Mogale has been married for eight years to the handsome Sebasa Mogale. She has a B.Com degree in management sciences from the University of Limpopo, and has worked in the past for a couple of corporate companies such as the South African Broadcasting Services (SABC), First National Bank (FNB) and Vodacom.
“I am currently a businesswoman, and my husband and I co-founded an arts and entertainment company. Our services include recording studios, an acting and voice-over academy, events stationery provisions, graphic designing and, my favourite, a modelling academy,” she said.
Mogale said when she and her husband decided to start a business, they combined their passions and poured their hearts into making them work. “He is an arts practitioner, an actor, radio presenter, musician, public speaker and more, hence the recording studios and the acting and voice-over academy.”
She also does charity work and is involved in social development.
“Besides the normal modelling lessons I offer my students, I also help them with their school assignments and careers. I provide those from disadvantaged backgrounds with free internet access for their schoolwork, I help them with their Curriculum Vitaes (CV’s), education funding and bursary applications, and general life skills. I also task them to identify charities and guide them with getting donations for their charities.”
“There are a few other projects that I would like to start, one of them being a Confidence and Achievement Programme for women. I believe that lack of confidence is the reason some women accept domestic violence, women giving up their dreams for others, women holding back what they truly believe in and other challenges that women are faced with.”
She believes the Mrs SA title will provide her with a platform and a ‘voice’. “I believe South Africans still need to be fed with information regarding cancer, as some still struggle to identify the symptoms related to it, while others ignore them until it’s too late,” she said.
Thus far the Mrs SA Top 100 contestants have attended a workshop where they received guidance from the Mrs SA previous winners, Mrs SA officials and other experts in the relevant fields such as makeup, fashion and social media to help them build an even better image of themselves.
“We also had the opportunity to meet our wonderful sponsors,” she said. The top 100 will go on to compete at the semi-final weekend, to be held at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, from 26 to 28 April, and will be submitted to intense judging sessions by an esteemed panel of judges comprising of Vusi Zwane (Emperors Palace Peermont Hotel Corporate Affairs and Corporate Social Investment Executive), Candice Abrahams (Mrs World 2016) and Unaiza Moideen (businesswoman in the beauty industry), headed by principal judge, Cindy Nell-Roberts (businesswoman and former Miss South Africa).
Only 25 contestants will be selected to continue the journey in the quest for the title of Mrs South Africa, who will be announced at the annual Cansa Gala Dinner on 28 April at Emperors Palace’s Centre Court. The gala dinner is a glittering event and a highlight on the social calendar. All proceeds of this event will go to the pageant’s official charity, namely Cansa.
To vote for Refilwe SMS ‘Refilwe Mogale’ to 35959 between now and 27 April. Other contestants who will be representing Limpopo and joining Refilwe in the Mrs SA Top 100 contest are Zama Ramokgadi and Mankoana Nhlebela. The CEO of Mrs SA, Joani Johnson congratulated the contestants.
