The poorly-planned pageant, which was open to contestants
aged between 15 and 22 years, was held at Bothwell House in Harare over the
weekend. Efforts to contact Ngonso for comment were fruitless as his mobile
phone went unanswered.
Co-owner of a Gweru modeling agency, Frosties Modelling and
Entertainment, Sharon Frost confirmed to NewsDay Life & Style that they
were mistreated prior, during and after the pageant by Ngonso.
She said 10 of them (all from Gweru) were still stranded in
Harare as of Saturday night. We arrived in Chitungwiza on Thursday at some
primary school which had no electricity. Imagine we slept on the floor this
winter.
“For supper we were served sadza with green vegetables and
scrambled eggs,” she said. “The next morning we had a decent breakfast after my
intervention. Rehearsals went on well that Friday, but we did not have lunch
because there was nothing to cook.
“We then had supper (macaroni/sadza and vegetables) at
around 9pm. Frost said Ngonso
disappeared on Saturday morning as they were preparing for the event that was
scheduled to start at 12 noon.
“I hired a truck at US$15 which transported us to the
venue. When we arrived we were shocked to discover that the pageant was going
to be held in a “passage” and the changing room was an unclean and smelly
restroom,” she said.
“We are very disappointed. Imagine travelling all the way
from Gweru for a pathetic event. We are still stuck (as of Saturday) in Harare.
“We don’t have money to return home as he had promised to
refund us the money we used for food and transport to and from the venue, but
soon after the pageant he disappeared.”
Frost encouraged models to thoroughly research about
pageants before they decide to participate.
“Our models were asked to pay US$22. Seven dollars was said
to be for registration and US$15 for boot camp. All that went down the drain.”
Miss Midlands Agricultural Show (2019) Samkelisumusa
Makombe said Ngonso should be held accountable for his actions.
“I am really hurt and disgusted. It is people like Ngonso
who make the industry look bad. Most up-and-coming models’ dreams are screwed
up after such ill-treatment. I doubt they will want to try again,” she said.
Models Against Abuse Movement founder Lucia “Lucy Bardie”
Mazhou said such behaviour was killing the pageantry industry.
“People are organising pageants to make money and not to
uplift aspiring models. Slowly the models are losing interest in pageantry. After
such a terrible experience models lose faith and interest,” she said. Newsday
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