CULTURAL ambassador Kwena Baloyi and Bonolo Modise, along with many other women, have written an open letter to the Miss South Africa organisation.
In the letter, they expressed outrage at the lack of diversity displayed by the organisation.
Baloyi took to Instagram to share the letter with her 34.5K followers.
She wrote: “Dear Miss South Africa. The time has come for us to address an issue which has been continuously dismissed by your organisation, and that is the business of representation. For decades we have engaged with your idea of beauty; the kind that is primarily based on serving the needs of archaic patriarchal and universalism norms.
“However, as we step into the next decade, we are determined to hold systems of influence accountable for the ways in which they use their power and how they can tailor their influence to serve the needs of communities.”
It continued: “As it stands, your organisation publicly claims to pride itself in diversity, progressiveness and women empowerment. What we as womxn of South Africa struggle to understand is how any of that can be true when we are constantly misrepresented by your platform.
“South Africa and her womxn hold a vastness in diversity that deserves celebration and opportunities to lead. Our womxn are not limited to your predictable choice of thin, able-bodied, cis-gendered model type contestants. We are also curvaceous, full-bodied, queer, transgender, disabled and genderqueer.“
The Miss South Africa organisation has yet to respond to the letter.
To read the full letter, check out KwenaSays.