Did Miss Botswana lie?

  • Contenders accuse her of buying the crown
  • It was transparent- Maphanyane

While the reigning Miss Botswana 2016 has played ignorant to allegations that she won the pageant despite having body art, questions have arisen as to why she failed to confirm the tattoos that are in her own body instead opting to respond to inquiries with an abrupt, “ I cant confirm or deny.”
It has emerged that Thata Kenosi has tattoos, and this publication can confidently confirm she has two tattoos, one on her neck, which is an artwork of a cross while another one is below her rib cage. Pictures of the beauty queen during boot camp sessions with some of her associates were seen by this publication and show her body artwork.
“I cannot confirm or deny that I have them” was Kenosi’s response when quizzed if she had tattoos or not. It is not clear why she did not admit to having the tattoos outright even though her twitter updates clearly show them. In a May 2014 post, she posted that she “shouldn’t have told u about my tatt (sic).”
Miss Botswana requirements however clearly state that one must not have ‘visible tattoos’. Miss World Pageant rules also state that any tattoo that is visible when a contestant is wearing a two-piece bikini and has their hair tied up is a ground for disqualification from the pageant. Kenosi’s tattoos have been visible on numerous occasions during the boot camp but Miss Botswana organizers failed to take action regarding the matter.
Miss Botswana media director Tshepo Maphanyane who was evasive said, “We are not aware that she has tattoos and if we had seen them action was going to be taken”. Another picture from a source that was present during boot camp sessions shows Kenosi posing with a tattoo on the neck appearing, another evidence of the fact that the pageant organizers had an opportunity to see her tattoos.
Apart from the evidence from pictures, some of the Miss Botswana contestants came forward to confirm that Kenosi had such tattoos. This has further compounded the scrutiny of the pageant’s organizers.
In 2012, Miss Swaziland finalist Faith Kunene was requested by the then Miss Swaziland organizers to remove her tattoos as it was against international pageant rules for a beauty ambassador to have any permanent body art. In 2014, three of 24 Miss South Africa contestants were disqualified for having tattoos as this broke the international long standing rules.
Another matter that was raised with regard to Miss Botswana is the “favouritism” involving some of the girls who made it to the finals who did not meet the required height of 1.67m.“Not all of us were 1.67m one or two of the models were short and it has been ignored,” one of them told this publication.Meanwhile, the Miss Botswana pageantry has also been given a week by the courts to pay the winner of Miss Botswana 2013 over P180 000 worth of prize money.