Remona.
I've always thought that it must suck to be a
Miss South Africa princess because the chances of you actually getting to do anything are pretty much zilch.
Things have taken a different turn this year though because first princess Remona Moodley will be replacing Melinda Bam at
Miss World. For reasons unknown.
The 2012 Miss World pageant's coming up in August and Melinda won't be representing South Africa for personal reasons. No-one will spill what the reasons are exactly but I assume that they're more dramatic than a double booking for a manicure.
I asked Miss South Africa organisers Sun International for more details on why - this is their response:
"It is very personal and we as the licence holders respect her privacy, and therefore we are not at liberty to disclose any further information."
... ? Your guess is as good as mine.
While princesses seldom get to step up in their year this isn't the first time it's happened for Miss World. The most recent instance of it was in 2004 when first princess Dhiveja Sundrum stepped in for Claudia Henkel.
Claudia missed out on competing because some genius scheduled the next Miss South Africa pageant on the same day as the Miss World pageant
#EpicFail. She obviously had to be at the Miss SA pageant to hand over her crown so couldn't make it.
This year the two pageants are happening far apart - Miss South Africa will be in December and Miss World's on Saturday 18 August, in China this year. The pageant will be airing live on SABC3 again, in the afternoon.
The broadcast starts with a pre-event special at 13h30 and the pageant itself starts just before 14h00.
Word from Miss South Africa insiders is that Melinda and Remona are working together to prepare for it. Remona starts the build-up to the pageant soon - she'll be involved in a month of related events before it happens, involved with different activities, sightseeing etc.
Here's more about her:
Remona Moodley is no stranger to pageants and held the title of First Princess for Miss SA Teen in 2006 and was crowned Miss India South Africa in 2005. Remona is 23-years-old and has an Electrical Engineering Degree from the University of Cape Town.
This year, Remona launched the Fund-A-Dream Foundation which aims at sourcing funding for talented young South Africans to prevent financial constraints from stifling their dreams. The campaigns include Educate-to-Motivate, Start-A-Scholarship and See-A-Need, Fill-A-Need.
The Educate-to-Motivate campaign is aimed at providing students with a complete education package. Already, six grade 12 learners from Hout Bay High have received scholarships to the total value of R25 000 and all 660 learners were given a stationery pack to kick-start their year.
The Start-A-Scholarship campaign finds companies and individuals to sponsor a young person with a specific talent or goal and the See-A-Need, Fill-A-Need campaign enables young people to promote their needs on the Fund-A-Dream website.