Angry Benny’s Care stops beauty contest

Acrimony bordering on the plot of a hot "soapie" emerged between Benny's Care Sports Academy and beauty contest organiser Ms Mashudu Mulaudzi, after the school felt that Mulaudzi was misusing their name for her personal gain.

Mulaudzi is the organiser of the Miss Benny's Care 2014 pageant. She had approached the academy with an idea and proposal for organising and hosting the contest. The academy gave her permission and the venue for the contest's activities.

“We even opened an account for her to save all the monies and she had absolute access to that account,” said Benny's Care Sports Academy's managing director, Mr David Benny Mufamadi.

“But, even though she had hosted fundraising activities, she had not deposited even a cent into the account. There are people she hired to judge the contest and she has not paid them up to so far. Remember that the contest carries our academy's name. We are the ones to take the rap. We cannot allow this kind of thing to continue to happen.”

Benny's Care Sports Academy said that they were also stopping the contest, which was scheduled for 29 November at Muduluni Community Hall. “Mashudu had a very bright idea which we also supported as it involved the promotion of the youth, but now things turned out otherwise,” said Mufamadi. “We cannot allow the situation where an individual is dragging our beautiful name through the mud while striving for her own personal gain.”

Mulaudzi denied ever using the academy for her personal benefit and said that she had requested meetings with the academy. “Each time I requested a meeting with them to explain my challenges, they told me that they were busy,” she stated. “I wanted to explain my difficulties as an organiser, so that they could hear from me that I hadn't generated any funds.”

Mulaudzi then raised her voice and shouted that the newspaper must not continue with the story. “I am going to meet my lawyer; I will sue Mufamadi if you run the story,” she fumed. However, the journalist advised her to leave the office because she was disrupting the newsroom's work with her shouting.

Glamour Modelling Agency's director Mr Lolo Lulama said that his agency had at least five young women who had qualified to participate in the Miss Benny's Care 2014 pageant. “We are feeling very sad because we had already spent a lot of money preparing for 29 November's event,” he said. “No words can explain our disappointment.”

News - Date: 28 November 2014

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]