The first-ever Mr and Miss Albinism South Africa beauty pageant was launched by Godfrey Mphatswe, through the initiative he aims to uplift and inspire the lives of people with albinism.
Mphatswe noticed a gap in the South African fashion and beauty industry after learning that countries like Zimbabwe and Malawi are empowering and uplifting their people with albinism. He then decided to introduce the peagant in South Africa.
“I was invited to Mr and Miss Albinism Zimbabwe, as a judge and I also went to another one in Malawi and I was inspired to do the same when I returned home,” Mpatshwe said.
People with albinism experience a lot of discrimination from the society, especially from people who are uninformed about albinism.“They are marginalised and killed, and it’s even worse in other African countries because people are spreading superstitions about them that their body parts can produce potent African medicine and other things,” he said.
Mphatswe is trying to address such issues through Mr and Miss Albinism and his dedicated to educate uninformed people and he also wants to consciously inform people that anyone can develop albinism genes and there is nothing odd about it.
“We are using this pageants to show that albinos have skills and they can be everything that anyone can be, and the fashion industry has side-lined them that isn’t helping with the awful circumstances that they are subject to,” Mphatswe says
“So we are saying ‘we cannot have that and we are here standing and advocating the fight against the stigmas that surround albinos’,” he added.
By Thabang Rammutla
