SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

The uber-cheap Betty's Bridal Boutique tiara has hardly settled on the head of the lovely Nicole Flint, and already the conspiracy theorists are at it again. The latest theory is that Sonia Raciti has fixed the pageant, that the celebrity judges selected an entirely black Top 5, and that Julius Malema is pushing for nationalisation of the pageant.

Whilst I have been very critical of Sonia Raciti's choices in the past, we must not forget that she heads a team that is looking for a company employee, nothing more and nothing less. The girl chosen to carry the Sun International torch for a year needs to be attractive, align herself with the company's marketing objectives, and perform well on the international stage. As head judge of the pageant it stands to reason that her contribution to the final score should be considerable.

As I said in a previous post, the contribution of the celebrity judges is nothing more than about 20%. Whether they choose a black Top 5 of not, it is not going to have a marked effect on the outcome of the pageant. The scores from the preliminary judging rounds decide who will win the pageant and, at the very best, the scores of the celebrity judges will merely shuffle the placements of the remaining finalists around should they differ from the standings after pre-judging.

I previously reported on the 1982 Miss South Africa pageant where the celebrity judges were seen busily scribbling "scores" on their score sheets during the final of the pageant whilst a newspaper vendor was selling the early edition of the Sunday Times, with the photograph of the winner splashed across the front page, on the street outside the venue. I'll bet my bottom dollar that is was not the only instance where the results where known before the finalists set foot on the stage.

The difference back then was that the panel of judges that was introduced to the audience present, and in later years the television audience as well, was the same panel of judges that had judged the finalists in the preliminary rounds. Why they now choose to have a preliminary panel whose score is weighted at 80%, and then have a celebrity panel whose score is weighted at 20%, is beyond me. They will be best advised to include any celebrities in the panel of judges from the get-go to avoid the situation where celebrity judges come out in public and question the results.

I'm really not going to comment on the theory that Julius Malema plans to nationalise the pageant except to say that he couldn't even nationalise a plane saw through a block of wood at school, let alone be able to pick a pageant winner that is going to meet with internationally acceptable standards. The latest opinion poll indicates that he is doing more harm than good to the organisation he claims to represent, and empty vessels do make the most noise.

Doing online research for this blog, one thing has become blatantly obvious: South Africa is not the glorious Rainbow Nation that the powers-that-be would have us believe. Our fabulous country is still very divided along racial lines. The comments in response to Nicole Flint's win from the "white" camp have been positive and complimentary, and the comments from the "black" camp have been negative and respondents have said that Matapa Maila should have won the title.

Latest opinion polls indicate that racial tolerance in South Africa is at an all-time low. Well it is lower than it has ever been since 1994. The sooner that the "establishment" realises that there is nothing "rainbow" about the nation, and that our society is nothing more than a hot pot of races and ethnicity's that choose to co-exist peacefully for social and economic reasons, the sooner we will be able to prosper as a nation.

95% of the population are not "A-listers" or celebrity wanna-be's who have to comply with some imaginary social inter-racial behavioural code of ethics, or who view every public event as a photo opportunity to prove that they are liberal and racially tolerant. The fact of the matter is that birds of a feather do still flock together and it will be the rule, with a few noteworthy exceptions, until the ends of time.

Before someone slaps a "racist" tag on me, I should add that race, colour and creed have never played a huge part in my selection of friends, and that I had friends of colour long before it was fashionable, hip or trendy to do so. The difference being that when the camera's were turned off and the final speeches were a mere memory, said people of colour were still my friends and were on my party lists. My comments in preceding paragraphs is merely an observation of life around me as I see it.

I realise that this post is all over the place, but true to form, my road to any destination is never a straight one. Digression is my trademark, and I either captivate my audience with my seemingly pointless rambling, or I bore them to tears. The point I am trying to make is that there is such an easy way out of the annual Miss SA "conspiracy theory" scenario. Obviously there are those that will vehemently oppose my ideas, but all things being equal, I know I am right and that the public-at-large will be happy.

I've suggested a three-title court at Miss South Africa on many occasions in the past and have met with dogged resistance, but it is the only outcome that will satisfy 95% of the population. By having black, white and coloured/asian title-holders of equal status at the pageant, the needs, aspirations and desires of all groups in South Africa will be catered for. No group will feel hard-done-by and each of the title-holders will meet with acceptance from the community she represents.

Most SA pageants have a "rainbow court" these days whether it is an accurate reflection of merit or not. Why not then award titles to each of the Top 3 at Miss South Africa and have each title-holder represent the country at a different international pageant. If Venezuela, India and the Philippines can have a national representative at each of three leading international pageants, then surely South Africa can as well. This system would surely appeal to the 95% of the population whose opinions apparently mean nothing, and so much post-Miss SA drama would be avoided.

Somewhere over the (mythical) rainbow, skies ARE blue.