26 Sep 2017

Anita Tlagae 22 of Kanye is Miss Independence 2017 after battling it out with 19 other contestants at a glittering event in Gaborone on September 23. 

Her first and second princesses are 20 year-old Precious Mosemmme of Mmadinare and 28-year old Gofaone Mothoogare of Tumasera respectively. 

Tlagae said in an interview that though it was not  her first time to compete, the race at Miss Independence was tough because her competitors were beautiful, brilliant and had amazing ideas. 

“Winning the pageant is overwhelming and gives me a sense of pride because I wasn’t even expecting to win the crown,” she said. 

The fact that she wanted to be a television presenter prompted her to join the beauty pageant and as such the thought of an idea that would help her to advance, achieve her desired dream and be in position to face challenges. 

She said beauty pageants were becoming popular and encouraged the youth especially those interested in beauty competitions to follow their desires but should bear in mind that beauty came with responsibility. 

Meanwhile the pageant director Gaonyadiwe Phuti explained that she ran the event without any assistance from the  Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development eventough she had desired for assistance.

 According to her the ministry was only celebrating those who were born in 1966. 

Last year BOT50 permitted her to call the pageant Miss BOT50 and 2017 winner is called Miss BOT51. 

“To tell the truth, I did not find anyone running this kind of pageant. This is the first pageant where we celebrate our traditional cuisine, clothes, dance and language,” she said. 

She further noted that the girls were given an assignment to conduct a research and find how they would preserve Botswana culture if they were to win the Miss Independence Botswana. ENDS