DC beauty queens speak out

‘Party gives us platform to restore the dignity of the girl child’

’MAKERESEMESE LETUKA

MASERU – Democratic Congress (DC) former Mokhotlong district beauty queens believe the party has set up a platform to restore the dignity of the girl child in society by introducing countrywide beauty pageants. ’Malehloa Mokoteli and Rethabile Letjama are two of the DC’s beauty queens who graced the party’s rally in the Mokhotlong district last Sunday.

’Malehloa is the current Miss DC Mokhotlong, while Rethabile reigned as Miss DC Mokhotlong in 2019. Twenty-year-old Rethabile’s journey in pageantry started in 2017 when she first participated in the Miss Mokhotlong competition and walked away as the reigning queen.

She continued the journey by joining the Miss Democratic Congress 2019 competition where she also became queen and made it to the Miss DC Top-10 at national level. Rethabile, a resident of Ha Letjama, in Mokhotlong, currently undertaking online studies in Petroleum and Gas Engineering with Liaoning Shihua University in China. She is in her second year of study.

“The reason why I joined the Miss DC competition is because I saw it as the best and potential party that can restore the dignity of the girl child in society through education, mentorship and empowerment of the girl child,” she told Life&Style. Rethabile believes a girl child is the pride and future of the nation. Empowering your girls means empowering your future and her role as queen is to help young women understand community sensitisation and together stand for the rights of the girl child.

She argues: “Of course, the DC is bound to win in these upcoming elections; in fact it is a must for it to win. DC is not a seasonal political party with a mandate to suit only the rich; it is a very firm party with a mandate that suits all aspects in our community from the poor to the rich.

“It is the first political party in the country to launch its manifesto hence giving it a head start to campaign and get the message to the community. “It is the first political party to hold at least two to three rallies a week in support of the street vendors with the aim of improving their lives by buying their goods on the streets in all districts of Lesotho.

“A huge maltitude of Basotho, at least 2 000 per week (Thupa-Kubu and Mokhotlong this past weekend) are joining the DC because it is the only party with the interests of Basotho dearly at heart,” she said. Rethabile indicated that currently DC has more seats in parliament, amid tensions with its ruling partner the All Basotho Convention, and emerging new political parties. DC opted not demand the position of prime minister despite its majority seats.

On the other hand, 25-year-old ’Malehloa of Salang, Mokhotlong, has an Associate Degree in Marketing, obtained in 2021 from the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. She currently works for government’s Ministry of Home Affairs. She started modelling in 2020 and has only participated in the DC’s pageantry.

She said: “I have always thought of joining pageantry but I thought I was not good enough so in the 2020 DC Girl Child Programme was established. As one of the DC youth I decided to compete in the Miss DC Mokhotlong and face my fears.” “I became a role model to youths in my community because being a model is not only about beauty but is also about being able to conduct yourself respectfully and being approachable by different age groups,” she stated.

“Looking back, the new parties are not the first political parties that people seem to love but elections always show different results, so it does not scare me. Also basing myself on the previous DC gatherings there are still many people who are joining the party. So yes, I strongly believe we are going to win the election,” she concluded.