Before Qhawekazi earned her crown as Miss South Africa on Saturday, she was already all about spreading hope through books and belief.
Pretoria, South Africa (26 October 2025) – Last night at the SunBet in Pretoria, the 67th Miss South Africa finale rolled out the glamour in an evening that would culminate in celebration, as South Africa found its new Miss SA.
Out of nine dazzling finalists who competed for the title, it was 24-year-old Qhawekazi Mazaleni from Gonubie, East London, who took the crown from outgoing queen Mia le Roux. Luyanda Zuma was named First Princess and Karabo Mareka Second Princess.
“My heart is so incredibly full. Thank you so so much, I am so incredibly lost for words, but my heart is filled with gratitude,” shared Qhawekazi, after receiving her crown.
Qhawekazi has always had her heart in the right place.
She holds a degree in Speech, Language and Hearing Therapy from Stellenbosch University and is currently busy with a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology through the University of Pretoria, focusing on autism.
She’s fluent in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans, and is currently learning Sepedi and isiZulu – which already says a lot about how she thinks. She believes that access and language matter and the more ways we can connect with each other, the better.
Her focus has been crystal clear, long before she entered the pageant.
The beauty queen is all brains. Qhawekazi is big on education, representation and practical tools that help children learn. She’s run with that mission, and in fact has already published an isiXhosa children’s book that teaches reading and counting.
As she’s said before, “Young women don’t always have role models within their own communities to look up to and see themselves reflected; representation gives them permission to dream.”
When you consider how many children in South Africa don’t have books in their home language, it’s a mission that holds so much purpose. Qhawekazi wants to shift that, not only by distributing books but by helping families and teachers create resources with what they have.
Her belief in the power of stories (and in telling them in the languages we live in) is core to what she wants to build.
“Through my initiative for increasing access to books I hope to find and share stories that celebrate our cultures, languages and traditions and foster a generation with cultural awareness,” she shares.
It also really helps that her academic world meets her advocacy. Speech-language therapy is about closing gaps so children can thrive in the classroom and outside of it.
We love that Qhawekazi has made it clear that pageantry, for her, is a platform to get practical. She’s outspoken about the reality that many young people battle hopelessness when they look at the stats, and she wants to meet that with visible, measurable action.
It’s going to be a year of making things happen.
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