Reigning Miss SA, Sasha-Lee Olivier, says at a time when so much is happening around the world, she is disappointed that the City Press chose to body shame her.
In her Instagram post, posted yesterday, she said the country faces so many issues today, including femicide and the Black Lives Matter movement that has reverberated globally – yet the paper chose to write about her belly and assume she is pregnant.
She was referring to an article written by Ntombizodwa Makhoba.
The headline reads: “Is Miss SA pregnant? The official comment is no.”
The assumption is based on a picture of Olivier wearing a mustard dress, sitting down.
In her video, she says Ntombi uses her voice in a way that doesn’t empower other individuals.
“No one has the right to tell you what beauty is. You have the right to have an opinion, but you have the responsibility to use your platform in a way that builds and lifts people up.
She says women find themselves in a multi-faceted war – at the hands of men.
“We are losing our lives every day by the hands of men. Forty percent of us will be raped in our lifetime. A woman wrote this article about me. Women were in charge of editing it. In life, everything is a choice. There was a woman who was pregnant who was hung. I stay silent on things like this, but Ntombi Zodwa Makhoba is not bullying me. I know I am not pregnant. I eat pizza and I am myself. I am comfortable in my skin. I’m not about my abs. Why don’t you help raise money for my rape comfort packs? It’s new to her that people are embracing their bodies. It’s sad because she is not bullying me. She is bullying every single person I represent on this platform. Zozi and I in this space, it’s a future reimagined for many. We’ve been told countless times that we don’t belong here,” she said.
The organisers are reportedly taking legal action against the publication.
