A journey which started 13 years ago finally paid off for Lufuno Nemathithi. Nemathithi (23) of Shayandima was crowned the queen during the Miss Vhembe 2012 competition held at the Thohoyandou Town Hall on Saturday.

After a gruelling elimination process, Nemathithi emerged as the judges' favourite. For her efforts, she went home R25 000 richer. For the intelligent IT specialist, this is the culmination of many years of hard work and the start of a tough road in the world of beauty.

Vhembe is one of the five district municipalities in Limpopo. It is made of four local municipalities, namely, Thulamela, Makhado, Musina and Mutale. After three weeks of eliminations, twelve beauties from the four local municipalities finally qualified to battle for supremacy in this competition which will from now be an annual event. The event is a joint venture between Vhembe District Municipality and Vite Trading Enterprise.

Lufuno is not a novice in the beauty pageant world. Among other titles, she has been Miss Kruger National Park in 2008, Miss Khwevha High School 2007, first princess for Miss Venda Plaza in 2006 and Miss TSB in 2010.

“I started very young, if my memory still serves me well. I was just 10 years old when I was crowned Miss Little Shayandima, and since then I told myself that I would like to compete in the Miss South Africa competition. It is happening and I am looking forward to a day when I will be representing this province in the finals of Miss South Africa,” she said.

Nemathithi said she was still going to sit down with the management of Vhembe District Municipality to identify organisations that deal with disadvantaged children. She also wants to help identify new models. “This area has a lot of potential. What they need is assistance from those who have the experience, and this is what I will be foccussing on,” she said.

Speaking during the function, Cllr Rapson Rambuwani, who represented the acting mayor, said events like the Miss Vhembe competition would go a long way in taking  youths away from the streets where they could be tempted to perform illicit activities. “As a municipality, we will always be behind such initiatives that empower our youth,” said Rambuwani.

Unarine Mashamba, a student at Univen, was crowned first princess. She received R15 000 and several vouchers, while the second princes, Prudie Maremane, received R10 000 cash and some vouchers.