Nthatuoa Koeshe
THE Democratic Congress (DC) is traveling across the country hosting pageants in an effort to drum up support in the grassroots.
The political party says this has been necessitated by the need to increase its appeal among the youths especially young women.
Named Miss DC Lesotho, the beauty pageant commenced on 6 April with Miss DC Mafeteng. Miss DC Leribe was held on 18 May 2019 and was followed by Miss DC Maseru which was held on 22 June at Methodist High School where, Tebelle Lekeli, ‘Mabaruti Napo and Matseliso Mabula were chosen to represent Maseru. The event featured other activities such as musical performances, comedy and dance.
The competition will culminate in the final combined pageant later this year dubbed Miss DC Lesotho where the top three contestants from all the districts will compete for a car.
Speaking to this paper, DC Youth League President, Moeketsi Shale, said the competition was born from the realisation that DC had little to no activities for girls.
Unlike their male counterparts who have many activities such as football and pool clubs to take part in.
He said they hope to attract young women into the party through the pageant adding that so far, the attendance has been overwhelming.
“We take a minimum of two contestants in each constituency but the number varies with each district as some constituencies are bigger than others,” Shale said.
He said the pageant was also aimed at giving girls a sense of belonging in the DC while at the same time attracting more people to take part.
“Girls and women from 18 to 35 years are eligible and the standard pageants associations’ criteria also applies. This means contestants must be single and have no children.
“We will be doing rounds in all districts and we hope that at the end we have more young women taking part in the DC activities. We are planning to make the pageant an annual contest,” Shale said.
