New Miss SA for 2025, Qhawekazi Mazaleni a Breath of Fresh Air

Held at the prestigious SunBet Arena in Pretoria, the 2025 Miss South Africa was crowned. Walking away with over R1.2 million in worth of prizes. She takes over from Miss SA 2024 winner Mia Le Roux, with runners up Luyanda Zuma, first, and Karabo Mareka as second runner up. The new Miss SA Qhawe, as she is affectionately known is a scholar and an author of her own children’s book, dictated in her home language of IsiXhosa. Promoting reading and writing in your home language, from early ages to ensure the preservation of culture through reading. The book teaches children to read and count saying: “It’s been so beautiful watching children interacting and learning from the book.” But she would like to see more initiatives that combat SA’s rising illiteracy rates. Qhawekazi believes this is possible in that South Africa leads the way regarding changing narratives and cultivating innovation across the world.

About Qhawekazi Mazaleni, From Gonubie, East London, (now living in Sundowner, Randburg) holds a Speech, Language and Hearing Therapy degree from Stellenbosch University and is doing Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology through the University of Pretoria with a focus on Autism. Making a difference in her community is important and her biggest contribution has been through her therapeutic work in “bridging cultural and linguistic gaps in speech therapy and being informed of our political, economic and social worlds.”

Her Motto: It’s only embarrassing if you’re embarrassed. Don’t be afraid to be seen trying.

Unfortunately this time around the Miss South Africa contestants and winners will not partake in the Miss Universe or World as the licenses are held by a different organisation however, with Qhawekazi’s stature, she will make the most of the crown.