Pageant fans often complain that they see the same girls competing at Miss South Africa year in and year out, and that they would like to see "fresh faces". If the truth be known, there are very few "fresh faces" on the South African pageant circuit.Whilst many contestants at the Miss South Africa finals may be making their first appearance at the pageant, very few are new to the pageant scene. Most of the finalists have "cut their pageant teeth" on the regional pageant circuit. Although I could be mistaken, I cannot think of a single Miss SA winner that had not previously entered a national or regional pageant or model contest. The same applies to the runners-up and other contestants. Most of the finalists are seasoned pageant girls.
I do understand that "fresh" could stand us in good stead at international level, and that "pageant patty" and over-rehearsed or trained contestants could be over-looked, but let's for a moment consider that at least 80% of the semi-finalists at international level are "pageant patty" types. Every now and again a "fresh" contestant will slip through and place or win, but that doesn't happen too often.
My personal motto is "practice makes perfect", and I don't have issues with girls making multiple appearances at the national pageant although I do believe that, if you have not won after two attempts, chances are very good that you will never succeed. I do find the "you may not be a finalist in successive years" rule a bit silly though.
What if a situation exists where the Top 2 contestants in a particular year are equally qualified to win and are at their pageant prime, yet there can only be one winner. The "gap year" for the runner-up could just be enough to lose that competitive edge. Excluding entrants from the national pageant because they had previously been finalists is the same as excluding athletes from the Olympic Games because they had been finalists at the previous Games. Silly!
Whatever your opinion, let's hypothesise that the "one final" rule had been in place since the first Miss South Africa pageant in 1956, and that no contestant could make another appearance at the pageant after having been a finalist in preceding years. Assuming that all other variables remained constant, who would have been crowned Miss South Africa:
1958: Rosemary Whitlock
1961: Marlene Boyes
1963: Ellen Liebenberg
1967: Mary McDonald
1969: Diana Newman
1986: Nancy Riach
1988: Mache Booysen
1990: Olivia Scrooby
1991: Amy Kleinhans
1992: Augustine Masilela
2008: Anja van Zyl
Whilst the rule would only have affected 11 winners, more than 40 finalists would not have been allowed to compete again. We would also have "lost" some of our favourite winners such as Penny Coelen, Linda Collett, Suzette van der Merwe and Diana Tilden-Davis. Hmmm! So the "one final" rule is not such a good idea after all.