Remember the story of ‘The Deaf Frog’, who won the mountain race out of all the animals. As he was deaf, he was able to neglect or unheard the negative comments of the passersby.
Something similar happened at this year’s Miss South Africa. Mia le Roux, a deaf contestant has been crowned as Miss South Africa 2024.
The finale of 66th Miss South Africa Pageant was held on Saturday, August 10, 2024 at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria. The beauty contest unveiled the contestant from Western Cape as winner, who was crowned by her predecessor Natasha Joubert from Gauteng.
Winning the South Africa crown, Le Roux will now present the nation at Miss Universe 2024 in Mexico in November 16, 2024.
Mia le Roux, aged 28, was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at the age of one and received a cochlear implant to help her in perceiving the sound and voice.
She explained that it had taken two years of speech therapy before she was able to say her first word.
After conquering her win, the model and marketing manager said, “I am a proudly South African deaf woman and I know what it feels like to be excluded. I know now that I was brought on this planet to break the boundaries and I did it tonight.”
Mia le Roux has become the first deaf woman, crowned as Miss South Africa following a divisive competition, that also saw one finalist withdraw from the contest, after being trolled over her Nigerian heritage.
After being crowned as Miss SA, in her acceptance speech, Mia le Roux said that she hoped her victory would help those who felt excluded from society to achieve their “wildest dreams, just like I am”.
She expressed that she wanted to help those who were “financially excluded or differently abled”.
Premier Alan Winde of Western Cape also wished the winner on her achievement and shared a note on his social media handles, he expressed, “Congratulations to Mia le Roux on being crowned Miss South Africa! Mia is the first hearing-impaired Miss SA. She was born in the Free-State but raised in the Western Cape. Continue to inspire!”
Last week, the pageant contest saw a withdrawal from 23-year-old law student Chidimma Adetshina, who was pulled out of the competition following allegations that her mother may have stolen the identity of a South African woman.
As per the reports, Adetshina was born in South Africa to a Nigerian father and a mother of Mozambican origin. She had been the centre of attraction, since the beginning of the contest, as her controversy grabbed everybody’s attention.
It was a social media storm for several weeks, with many people, including a cabinet minister, questioning her right to represent the country.
She said she had been the victim of “black-on-black hate”, highlighting a particular strain of xenophobia in South Africa known as “afrophobia”, which targets those, who are from other African countries.