The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

The abrupt postponement came as a shock!

It was late Thursday when news of the postponement of the Miss World Grand Finale, was announced hardly hours before the much-anticipated spectacle could commence.

Naturally, social media platforms were plunged into a feeding frenzy of all sorts of analysts. Here at home, the common thread was that it was the works of Eurocentric fanatics that are hell-bent on denying Africa’s beauty, talent, and dynamism across all spheres of life.

But not so for The Miss World Pageant organisers, whose press release attributed the postponement of the global broadcast finale in Puerto Rico to “health and safety interests of contestants, staff, crew and general public”.

 The statement continued that the finale will be rescheduled at Puerto Rico Coliseum Jose Miguel Agrelot “within the next 90 days”. The decision, the organisers confirmed, was taken after a meeting with virologists and medical experts hired to oversee the Miss World 2021 event and discussed with Puerto Rico Health Department.

By Wednesday, additional safety measures were implemented in the best interest of the contestants, production team, and spectators, understanding the event increased on the stage and in the dressing room.

But after additional positive cases were confirmed Thursday morning, the decision to postpone was made after consulting with health experts.

The next step according to the medical experts is immediate quarantine, pending observation and further testing according to best practices in situations like this one.

Once and only when contestants and staff are cleared by health officials and advisors, will contestants and related staff return to their home countries.

Julia Morley, the Chief Executive Officer of Miss World Ltd. comforted the agitated world audience with these words, “We are very much looking forward to the return of our contestants (who we have grown to know and love), to compete for Miss World crown”.

Speaking from San Juan, Morley reiterated what the contestants have been saying since their arrival in the archipelago n the Caribbean Sea, that “Puerto Rico offers a safe environment and a spectacular backdrop for filming the Miss World Festival”.

At the time of writing, Miss Botswana – the audacious African beauty named Palesa Molefe – had not been mentioned among the positive cases in the contestants.

This meant that she was likely not to be quarantined in San Juan, but would return to her home county, Botswana, where multitudes will welcome her as a Queen, the deferred finale’s outcome notwithstanding.

Palesa has been making waves in the pageant and winning the world’s admiration in the process, thanks to the information superhighway!