Whilst Cindy Nell might, in my estimation, not be one of the most beautiful women ever to wear the Miss South Africa crown, she most certainly is one of my favourite titleholders. What she lacks in physical beauty, she more than makes up for in attitude and determination.After what some observers called a "shock" win at the 2002 Miss SA pageant, Cindy silenced all her critics by placing third at the 2003 Miss Universe pageant. Although many of her post Miss SA pageant critics did an 180-degree about-face and were suddenly shouting "Cindy's our next Miss Universe" in the run-up to the pageant, it was going to be a monumental task getting past the very fierce (and somewhat unpopular) Miss Dominican Republic, and she ended up in third place.
Cindy's determination succeeded in persuading the Miss SA pageant organisers to move the 2003 pageant to a date after the 2003 Miss World pageant so that she could participate before handing over her national title. And then the unthinkable happened. Although she was not in the same physical shape as she was when she competed at Miss Universe, Cindy was surprisingly left out of the semi-finals at the Miss World pageant in a year in which 20 contestants advanced.
No offence to any of the South African girls that succeeded at Miss World in later years, but Cindy would have and should have out-placed any South African contestant that came after her, but for the fact that the Miss World Organisation's idea of the perfect result does not include a white African.
In keeping with world pageant trends, I am a supporter of the multiple titleholder system for the Miss SA pageant. Not only would it afford more South African women the opportunity to represent the country at a major international pageant, but it would also negate any criticism of the pageant if there is the perception that one particular race group is being favoured when crowning a winner.
Most importantly, however, I strongly doubt that any white South African representative would ever again succeed at Miss World since all Africans are dark-skinned in the most recent Miss World "Idiots Guide to Diversity" Manual. So even if we send Helen of Troy's re-incarnation to Miss World, best we pack a couple of jars of Ingram's Camphor Cream in her luggage coz she's gonna do a lot of clapping.