Former Zimbabwean top model Marry Mubaiwa has taken over as the new boss of the ailing Miss Zimbabwe Trust, which was dumped by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) two years ago. The appointment of the year 2000.  Miss Harare First Princess and later Zimbabwe Top Model as the new chairperson of the Trust, comes as a breath of fresh air to the scandal-hit Miss Zimbabwe pageant. Last year, the pageant was marred by controversies, which saw the Trust failing to stage a meaningful final and making shoddy preparations for the Miss World finals.

Mubaiwa and her team take over from a group that was now being led by patron of the Trust Kiki Divaris, who had been forced to run the pageant herself after the ZTA opted out to “concentrate on their core business”.Divaris remains in her honorary role as the Trust’s patron but will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the pageant.

Other members of the Mubaiwa team are vice-chairperson Mrs Gamuchirai Gwasira, treasurer Colonel Godfrey Jenje, co-ordinator Mrs Rebecca Chidziva, public relations Mr Spencer Manguwa and mentors Ms Kain Davidson and former British-based model Blessing Mandishona.Former Miss Zimbabwe Malaika Mushandu, one of the most successful models in recent years and Zimbabwe’s Olympic gold medalist, swimming sensation Kirsty Coventry, will also be part of the team that is set to change the face of Zimbabwean modelling.

In an exclusive interview last week, the former catwalk queen, Mubaiwa, told The Sunday Mail Leisure that her mandate was to rebuild the image of the Miss Zimbabwe pageant.“It feels fantastic as a young person that I was given an opportunity to lead such a national event. Our objective as the new leadership is to rebuild the trust and to engage and motivate the girl child,” she said.

She revealed that this year’s national finals will be held on July 27 at the majestic Harare International Conference Centre (HICC).“We want the people of Zimbabwe to have confidence in our national event so that they pay to be part of the show the same way they pay US$20 for Zahara. We want to facelift the pageant so that the HICC will be filled to capacity with people confident of a flawless show,” said Mubaiwa.

Running under the theme “Developing and Empowering the Girl Child” Mubaiwa said her aim is to empower “our girl child after winning the national finals”.She told this publication that the Trust has already engaged the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment to support the Miss Zimbabwe pageant at Government level.Said Mubaiwa:“We want to mould young women so that they are independent and respected. We want them to achieve goals through education and the economic empowerment being run by Minister (Saviour) Kasukuwere.”

She said Government should take a leaf from what the South African government has done in support of their national pageant. “We have already approached Minister Kasukuwere to support the winner through loans. In South Africa their Miss South Africa is a national event and is being bankrolled by their government, we are now asking why we cannot have the same here. Those loan facilities need to help our young women so that when they go on the international stage, they are confident and empowered,” she said.

She said the Trust will visit colleges, universities, prisons and other institutions to encourage the girl child to be independent and be empowered.“There has been much talk about empowering the youth and we really want to empower the girl child through the beauty-with-brains programme. The world is going to experience the pride, beauty and the brilliance of Zimbabwe’s finest pageant come July 27,” said Mubaiwa.

She said whoever is going to be crowned Miss Zimbabwe on July 27 needs to be supported to do her charity work, from the start of her reign right through to the end.“After their reign, these girls should be assisted to venture into income-generating projects, not to end being prostitutes after being neglected,” she explained. “That is why we want to rope in the minister of youth to provide funding for these income-generating projects,” she added.

Mubaiwa said Zimbabweans needed to remember that whoever is crowned Miss Zimbabwe would be “our ambassador” when she represents the nation at Miss World or any other event, thus she should be empowered to “represent us well through our support”.“There is no way a model will become a good ambassador who exudes confidence when she is broke or when she is not supported financially or otherwise,” she said.

She challenged Zimbabweans to be involved in this year’s pageant as it is in support of a national cause.“It is our goal to have an interactive and exciting pageant whereby viewers are directly involved, showing the transparency and legitimacy of the pageant. We will be launching the pageant’s website soon so that we are active on the social media platform,” she said.

This year’s event, Mubaiwa said, would be the biggest contest this country has ever witnessed. “It will be broadcast live on national broadcaster (ZBC TV),” she said.She said she knew of the pageant’s shortcomings and was prepared to tackle them head-on:“We are aware of where we have missed the mark of excellence and allowed other issues to cross over and that is already being fixed,” she said.The 1,79 metre tall former model said her new executive will be meeting all the provincial licence holders to map the way forward.

“We will be meeting all the provincial licence holders next week so that we discuss the way forward. We need to find out whether it is possible to have provincial contests or simply select, but we want to make sure that we have a uniform way of choosing those who will be contesting on the national event,” she said.Mubaiwa rose to national prominence when she emerged first princess at the Miss Harare beauty pageant in 2000 before she clinched the Zimbabwe Top Model title organised by the Rotaract Club of Harare the same year.She then moved to South Africa where she was attached to Gaenor Becker modelling agency.