Miss South Africa 2020 voting poll is open but the South African public is not happy with it.
Following the top 15 announcements on Wednesday night, CEO of the pageant, Stephanie Weil, said that the public can vote for their favourite contestants.
“The public will now be able to vote for their favourite semi-finalists and determine who moves forward to the next round as a Top 10 finalist. Voting for Miss South Africa opens on Thursday, June 25, at 9am and closes on July 16 at 11pm. The public votes will be audited along with the judges’ votes, and the Top 10 will be selected from here and announced at the end of July,” said Weil.
She added: “The public’s vote will be the equivalent of that of a fifth judge. For any contestant to progress, it will have to win the hearts of three of the five judges with the public as the fifth judge. This allows the Miss South Africa Organisation to engage the public in electing its representative while also utilising the other judges voting power to act as “checks and balances” to prevent any contestant from being unfairly advantaged strictly as a result of the voting power. A contestant’s social media following will not be considered with regards to votes.”
Voting starts from R20 for 4 votes; R50 for 12 votes (two free votes) and R100 for 25 votes (five free votes) and that is why the public is not happy. They have deemed it as “expensive” considering the current economic situation.
Media personality, Sizwe Dhlomo also weighed in on the matter and said “Animeni ke (wait a minute) guys... What does Miss SA mean when they say people must vote ngemali (with money) ? In this economy?"
undefinedOthers also joined the conversation and suggested that the contestants will be voted for by their family members.
This then brings into question the fairness of the whole process as it means that some candidates could be at a disadvantage.
Okay but real talk, this so unfair. Do you realize by this method the participants who are have more means and are well connected can win by actually buying their way in. This isn’t about the best women winning anymore, this is about the one who has supporters with deeper pockets https://t.co/Dz2jIIvjsV
— Makehimwannamarrymee 🥂 (@keeeeeaaaaa) June 25, 2020
Why do people need to pay to vote? https://t.co/SBGwWWy3i4
— nay gotala (@booksbakesbants) June 25, 2020
everyone: why must we pay to vote??
the miss south africa pageant: https://t.co/O4FugQSttf pic.twitter.com/KFWoo96a8v
You know...it would have been a pretty dope idea to offer an option for people to watch an ad as a payment...that's really an option. https://t.co/ymvyMXDP9y
— aka your grootman's favorite girl/ Barwldie* (@misaNarrates) June 25, 2020
you want us to PAY??? to VOTE??? DURING A PANDEMIC? https://t.co/TUnNpnZNS3
— lee (@khruangbinstan) June 26, 2020
this is so exclusionary. the more i think about it, the worse it is. this is so unfair https://t.co/7rXePbphbe
Aibo how are you guys charging the public for this? 😳😳 https://t.co/Z5UW0WT1cQ
— Phume (@phume22) June 25, 2020
In a follow up post, the Miss SA organisers clarified that the funds would be for "upskilling, empowerment, and training of the Top 10" and a portion of it going to the Miss South Africa Foundation.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/MissSA2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MissSA2020 #FaceYourPower #EmbraceYourFuture #MissSATop15 pic.twitter.com/Yp02fBKiIo
— Miss South Africa (@Official_MissSA)