At just 17, Joyce Malindi won her first beauty contest under the oppressive grip of apartheid-era South Africa. Fifty-five years on, she returned to the catwalk, silver curls shining and brown clogs tapping, to take part in a beauty pageant exclusively for grandmothers.
Held in the Thokoza township, just outside Johannesburg, the event included prayers, speeches, and a performance highlighting the scourge of domestic violence.
But the real highlight was the red carpet laid through the community hall, where proud grandmothers strutted their stuff in a competition rarely seen among the many pageants focused on younger women.
“This takes me way back, brings back my youth,” said Malindi, a great-grandmother of five, as she broke into a jubilant jig to “Happy Mama” by legendary jazz musician Hugh Masekela.
Unlike conventional beauty contests, there were no swimsuit or evening gown rounds. Instead, participants showcased their Sunday best — from sleeveless summer dresses and bold orange headwraps to strings of pearls and traditional attire.
Floral prints and well-worn kitten heels gave glimpses of past celebrations.
Supporters — mainly women from the Sukuma Mbokodo Support Group, which organised the event — clapped, ululated, and eagerly filmed the joyful occasion on their phones.
Feeling ‘young again’
At the makeup corner, the top request was for deep red and berry toned lipsticks but most contenders chose to let their bare faces and bright smiles shine. Nearby, a teapot served cups of chai beside trays of scones.
“They don’t focus. When you are doing their makeup they want to multitask, talk, bark instructions,” said 19-year-old volunteer hairdresser Ntokoza Ntshinga.
The youngest contestant was 63 years old and the oldest 81.
But it was septuagenarian Margaret Fatyela who took the silver-coated crown.
“We are now like school children,” she told AFP, seated next to her modest prize of tea set and a bag of toiletries.
It was the first time the former domestic worker and mother of eight had entered a pageant.
“I feel like I am young again, capable of doing everything,” she said, looking towards the first runner-up, Lidia Mokoena, who did not hide her beard.
‘Forgotten citizens’
Organisers said the event was intended to celebrate the grandmothers and great-grandmothers on whom South Africa’s largely impoverished society depends, even if they remain in the shadows.
Nearly four in 10 children are raised in homes headed by grandparents, according to official data, with many parents forced to relocate for work, a high rate of teenage pregnancies and AIDS-related deaths among the contributing factors.
“Often times the minute they take pension they are forgotten citizens, and all they do is look after great-grandchildren and grandchildren,” local official Bridget Thusi told AFP.
“To have programmes like this where they are celebrated and to forget the problems at home was really an amazing thing to see,” she said.
For Malindi it was a boost after losing her husband four years ago.
“At our old age, we thought that maybe because our husbands are gone, everything is gone, it’s the end of the world,” she said.
But the event “picked our spirits up…taught us we are still alive and life still goes on, we better make ourselves the right grannies,” she said, her brown eyes sparkling.
