The current Miss Zimbabwe has been stripped of her title on the grounds of ‘immoral behaviour’ after naked photographs of her appeared on the instant messaging service WhatsApp.
Emily Kachote, 25, broke rules that insist beauty queens must never pose nude, the pageant board said in a statement amid claims the model’s former lover deliberately leaked the images.
In a bizarre twist, Miss Kachote’s predecessor Thabiso Phiri, 22, was also stripped of the Miss Zimbabwe title – which automatically enters the winner into the Miss World competition – after nude photographs she had sent to her boyfriend were leaked and went viral.
In a statement, the Miss Zimbabwe pageant board said Miss Kachote ‘violated the rules and regulations governing the pageant’, referring to nude images of that appeared on Whatsapp, according to a local tabloid newspaper.
‘Winners of the Miss World Zimbabwe beauty pageant whether a title holder or runner-up must not have posed nude professionally or socially in all forms of media,’ the organisers said.
‘Being in a relationship, sexual advances to anyone and any behaviour categorised as immoral by the Miss Zimbabwe Trust is grounds for instant disqualification and dethronement,’ they added.
When rumours of the scandal broke last month, Miss Kachote was quoted by New Zimbabwe as saying: ‘I was hoping the pictures would have been deleted by now since it happened a long time ago and I last spoke to the guy a year ago and I no longer have anything to do with [him]…’
‘I have always suspected that those pictures would circulate, but it happened a long time ago, and I believe my past does not determine where I am going,’ she reportedly added.
According to News 24, the disqualification will be welcomed in some quarters by Miss Zimbabwe watchers who branded the model ‘too ugly’ to hold the title.
Miss Kachote, a psychology graduate turned financial advisor, was crowned Miss World Zimbabwe in April, beating 15 other models.
The organisers of the contest said Kachote’s pictures were leaked shortly after she confessed to having once posed nude.
The board said Kachote will be replaced by runner-up Grace Mutambu, who will represent Zimbabwe at the Miss World pageant in Sanya, China in December.
Last year’s Miss Zimbabwe Miss Phiri was also caught up in a nude photo scandal and was forced to resign.
And in 2003 another Miss Zimbabwe, Linda Van Beek, was also forced to step down ahead of scehdule when she fell pregnant.
Miss Zimbabwe rules stipulate that entrants must not be expecting at the time of their election, nor can they fall pregnant during their ‘reign’.
Source: Daily Mail