An ugly legal showdown over Miss International South Africa (MISA) is looming in the high court in Gauteng as former Miss SA Teen Katlego Ncala takes on businessman Tony De Sousa over the replication of her pageant.
Ncala has filed an urgent application and was granted a trial date for May 30 to fight for her pageant concept, which she claims is being hijacked by De Sousa.
In an urgent court application, which Sunday World has seen, Ncala, who has been running the pageant for two years, accuses De Sousa of failing to be an honourable businessperson by dumping her as a licence rights holder and creating his own pageant to compete with hers.
Ncala said she has been paying De Sousa R20 000 licence rights since 2021, claiming that De Sousa allegedly went behind her back to create his own pageant, a replica of her competition and terminated their agreement without giving her notice.
The court application, which was filed on Monday, reads: “De Sousa approached me in the early parts of 2021 and advised me that he trades as Miss International South Africa. He holds the licence agreement for South Africa with the Miss International Beauty Pageant.
“Because of my extensive experience in beauty pageants, he wants to work with me in regard to the Miss International Beauty Pageant [a Japan-based international beauty pageant, the fourth-largest beauty pageant in the world in terms of the number of national winners].”
Ncala said she had an oral agreement with De Sousa in the same year that the company would be incorporated by her, and that she would pay him a R20 000 licencing fee.
Ncala added that the first successful pageant was held at the Emperors Palace in December 2021. The following year, they had a written agreement for Ncala to continue with the licence rights for a further five years.
According to their agreement, De Sousa would “allow the winner of Miss International South Africa to compete in the international pageant in Japan”.
“De Sousa would ensure reasonable accommodation in Japan for the Miss International South Africa candidate, and he would also enjoy a managerial position in MISA and would endeavour to act in its best interests at all times according to the South African company law …”
Ncala said she found out in February through a letter sent to her that De Sousa has terminated their agreement and created his own pageant to counter hers.
She explained that he also informed contestants of her pageant, which was scheduled to take place in June 2023, that only his pageant will be sending a contestant to Tokyo, Japan for the international title race.
Ncala enlisted the services of her lawyers to inform De Sousa that he was in breach of their agreement by seeking to terminate the licence.
De Sousa ignored two letters sent to him by Ncala’s lawyers, and continued to post about the pageant on his Instagram and Facebook accounts, distancing himself from Ncala’s brand and saying his is the only licensed pageant.
Ncala claimed that this has caused prejudice to her pageant, causing contestants to pull out claiming uncertainty, adding that 19 of 32 contestants have since pulled out.
“Applicants’ reputation has been irretrievably harmed by virtue of the ongoing imputations that it is a breach of trademark rights,” she said.
“The allegations that De Sousa is not involved in the so-called ‘infringing parties’ are simply falsified and designed to bring applicant to disrepute.”
She wants the court to stop De Sousa from making damaging remarks about her pageant and to order him to pay costs of the application.
A spokesperson for the pageant said: “Currently, we have been forced to resort to urgent legal proceedings due to a dispute with another party who has failed to meet their obligations in accordance with our agreement.
“We are committed to following proper legal processes during this matter. The other party refuses and has failed to respond to our urgent court application, and therefore the matter remains unopposed.”
De Sousa was not immediately available to comment.
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