Black Coffee's half sister-in-law Tidimalo Sethlako.
Scandal, scandal, scandal! .... Miss South Africa's been hit by a massive blow and is now missing a judge.
On Thursday night (30 January) the competition released a statement saying that Black Coffee has excused himself as a judge. My first thought was that it was because of the complaints that he doesn't suit being a judge etc, etc. I've never thought this but I know that a lot of people do.
It turns out that it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact that he's related to one of the 33 semi-finalists. On Monday (27 January), celebrity website
Zalebs carried a story stating that contestant Tidimalo Sethlako is related to Black Coffee and that it's going to be a problem.
And sure enough it is. This is the official statement released by Miss SA and Black Coffee:
BLACK COFFEE STEPS DOWN AS A MISS SOUTH AFRICA JUDGE
January 30, 2014: Miss South Africa judge Black Coffee has recused himself as a judge from the 2014 adjudication panel with immediate effect.
Speaking from abroad Black Coffee said: “I have recused myself from the judging process for Miss South Africa 2014 because it has emerged, to my surprise, that I am actually related by marriage to Top 33 semi-finalist Tidimalo Sehlako.
"Miss Sehlako is the half-sister of my wife Mbali Mlotshwa and, although she and her half-sister have only ever met twice in person, I had never met her, and notwithstanding that we have no relations of any kind with her, I do not wish any perception arising to distract from the pageant.”
Sun International - the official license holder of Miss South Africa - has said that Miss Sehlako will remain in the pageant and believe that she has all the attributes to wear the Miss SA crown should she be declared the winner.
Says Alison McKie, GM Marketing at Sun International: “Sun International confirms that there has been no impropriety and that Black Coffee has in no way influenced the result. Miss Sehlako would have been shortlisted in any event without his participation thanks to the scores she received from the other judges.”
PwC, Miss SA (Pty) Ltd auditors, eliminated Black Coffee’s scores from the competition and the semi-finalists remain unchanged.
Further Black Coffee shared: “I hold the Miss South Africa brand in high repute and am hugely impressed by the calibre of entrants in this year’s competition. However, I feel that the fair way forward from this most unfortunate and unintended circumstance is to resign as a judge.”
The finals of the pageant take place at Sun City on March 30 when the new Miss South Africa will take the crown from current holder Marilyn Ramos.
So what's happening now? Black Coffee will be in The Road To Miss SA reality show until this Sunday when the Top 12 will be announced and then he disappears.
The Top 12 go on a boot camp next and some of it's already been filmed but the judges aren't at the camp. They return later - which is when Black Coffee won't return. There's no news about who'll be replacing him but there's speculation that they'll be using a variety of different celebrity judges.
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