Cape Town to Take Miss SA

I know this is weird, but I had a lesson in keeping an open mind from the mighty Stephen Fry some years ago and, for fear of ever falling foul of him again, I try and follow his lead. The Miss SA pageant in the past for me has ranged from a seriously archaic construct designed to entrench misogyny and the subversion of women (my feminist phase), through to a mild nose turn-up at the somewhat tackiness of it all. And, if I am totally honest, it bothers me that they all somehow seem to turn into Top Billing presenters after a while. And while I am on this roll, that they also seem to subscribe to that whole Joburg social scene that I find to be very unseemly.

That said, gentle people, let me tell you that this year I am nailing my colours to the mast of contestants and backing Jodi Balfour in the title race.

Jodi is a 21-year old UCT drama student who is unpretentious, considered, great fun and easy going. I think that she represents the style of Cape Town extremely well without necessarily having to go down the path of all the ladies who have preceded her. And I think it is time again for Cape Town style to take the crown.

I managed to photograph Jodi yesterday on the sofa of the LuvSport set, and asked about World Peace and saving the children. She didn't bite. She talked to me about simple things we can all do to build a better future. She talked of our green responsibilities (recycling), a charity that she wants to set up in SA that encourages people to 'Say Hi' to others in their communities which has been shown to reduce crime and build a stronger society and big brother and sister programmes with HIV/AIDS clinics.

Jodi is one of four girls from our fair city in the last 12. The final is on 15th of December at Sun City and hopefully readers of this blog will get behind our girl.