Bokang Montjane-Tshabalala makes major pageant moves

Updated June 4, 2026, 10:31 a.m. | By Tamlyn Canham

The former Miss South Africa now owns the South African rights to three major beauty pageants.

Bokang Montjane Tshabalala wearing her hair in voluminous afro — Miss South Africa 2010 Bokang Montjane-Tshabalala/ Supplied

Miss South Africa 2010 Bokang Montjane-Tshabalala continues to make major moves in the beauty world.

She has secured the rights to the Miss World competition in South Africa.

Montjane-Tshabalala's company, African Beauty International, also owns the local licences for the Miss Universe and Miss Supranational pageants.

The beauty queen is the national director of all three competitions.

“I have walked those stages. I have stood under those lights as a competitor, felt what it means to carry the South African flag into those arenas, and I know – deeply and personally – what is at stake when a young woman steps out to represent this country," she said in a statement.

"That lived experience is not something you can manufacture. It is the foundation everything I am building now rests on. South Africa will not just participate in these competitions. South Africa will compete to win.”

Winners of Miss World South Africa, Miss Universe South Africa, and Miss Supranational South Africa will go on to participate in the international versions of the competition.

Miss Supranational 2026 (Poland, July 31 )
Miss World 2026 (Vietnam, September 5)
Miss Universe 2026 (Puerto Rico, November)

Scores of people, including former Miss South Africas, congratulated Montjane-Tshabalala on her achievement.

"Incredible Bokang! Let’s bring home some titles," Miss South Africa 2001 Vanessa Carreira-Coutroulis wrote on Instagram.

Miss South Africa 2007 Tansey Coetzee added: "We prayed for this @bokang_m."

Margaret Gardiner, the first South African woman to win the Miss Universe title, is looking forward to more local women becoming international titleholders.

"Congratulations! I see winners in our future."

Here's a look at South Africa's Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Supranational winners.

Miss Universe Winners

Margaret Gardiner (1978)
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (2017)
Zozibini Tunzi (2019)

Miss World Winners

Penelope Coelen (1958)
Anneline Kriel (1974)
Rolene Strauss (2014)

Miss Supranational Winners

Lalela Mswane (2022)

Montjane-Tshabalala is ready to add another South African beauty queen to the list.

“South Africa has produced Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss Supranational winners – we know how to win, and we know what winning looks like," she said.

"Four years is too long. Twelve years is too long. My job is to make sure that the next time the world is looking for its next queen, they are looking at a South African.”