A 14-year-old Miss Teen Universe South Africa 2023 finalist, Unamandla Vilakazi, hosted a shoe drive at Dr EP Lekhela High School in Kimberley under the umbrella of the Unamandla Foundation.
A 14-YEAR-old Miss Teen Universe South Africa 2023 finalist, Unamandla Vilakazi, hosted a shoe drive at Dr EP Lekhela High School in Kimberley under the umbrella of the Unamandla Foundation.
The school shoe drive marked her last campaign ahead of the Miss Teen Universe SA crowning, which is set to be hosted at the iZulu Theatre at Sibaya Casino in Durban on Sunday.
Miss Teen Universe SA, which is a teenage pageant for young girls between the ages of 14 and 20, aims to build a better tomorrow for the youth by unleashing talent in modelling and equipping them with the necessary skills and instilling confidence and discipline to enable them to create jobs.
Unamandla had chosen Dr EP Lekhela High as her charity throughout her exciting journey as a finalist with the goal of building up the youth.
The initiative was supported by Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul, who donated 100 pairs of school shoes to the foundation, and other sponsors.
Dr EP Lekhela High will receive 50 of the pairs of shoes while the rest will be donated to other schools around the Province, together with the 200 more pairs that were received through the generosity of private sponsors.
The shoe drive event was attended by various stakeholders, including the general manager of Flamingo Casino, Themba Marasha, who supports the foundation’s initiatives, and the winner of the local Miss Goddess Supreme 2022 pageant, Oratile Louw, and the 2022 Junior Boy’s winner, Luthando Mbogo.
Also in attendance were Mishka Boughan, the Junior overall winner, and Gomolemo Malemela, the first prince for the Junior Boys.
The above winners were crowned by the foundation during the first empowerment pageant that was hosted at Flamingo Casino on December 10, 2022.
Marasha said Flamingo Casino was honoured to be associated with and support the Unamandla Foundation for all the good it does in the local community.
“We are looking forward to working together with the foundation in making a difference in our community through support for education,” said Marasha.
“As Flamingo Casino, we don’t just see school shoes and uniforms, but the wealth of the educational journey of the learners leading to a comfortable learning environment.
“You can’t expect a better future in a community without empowering or looking after the youth, which is what Flamingo Casino is all about when it comes to social economic development.
“A big shout-out to Unamandla Vilakazi and all the best for all her future endeavours,” added Marasha.
Oratile Louw, the 16-year-old winner of Miss Goddess Supreme 2022, motivated the learners to “be like a proton and be positive in all that you do”.
Luthando Mbogo emphasised the need to look after one another as young people.
“We could have picked up any other gift, but we picked the best gift, which is school shoes. This is also a message to say we are a family and we need to look after one another,” said Luthando.
Unamandla expressed gratitude for all the support she has received in her preparation for the finale and to the school for opening its doors for her.
“A great sense of appreciation to the Premier, Flamingo Casino, Dr EP Lekhela learners, the SGB, Aunt Bronwyn Philander, my campaign manager Uncle Benjamin Tshabile, my mom, Aunt Masego Mocumi, Mzi Tollie and Gift Mhlanga for all their efforts, and lastly the Miss Teen Universe South Africa platform director Mama Ntombi Gumede for granting us the opportunity to use this platform,” said Unamandla.
The principal of Dr EP Lekhela High, Serokolo Mohapanele, said they are grateful to the foundation for picking their school.
“Unamandla held a Youth Day celebration event and invited different stakeholders to motivate the learners. She got the school a sponsor to clean the school yard, and a career session with Sol Plaatje University and Pride of Ubuntu to celebrate Heritage Day at the school. We will forever be grateful for the school shoe drive,” said Mohapanele.
Unamandla’s local campaign manager, Benjamin Tshabile, said that Unamandla’s initiative was very successful at Dr EP Lekhela High because there were learners who were in need of those shoes.
“We couldn’t have done this without the Premier’s Office, which pledged to provide more assistance for the winter drive,” said Tshabile.
“As a campaign manager, I am proud of the foundation for reaching out so much to the school.
“I would like to thank all the other stakeholders who came on board, like Flamingo Casino, as well as the school management for allowing us to be part of them, and the learners for the manner they have handled themselves throughout our activities.
“We are looking forward to the future because there are still greater things to come.”
