A passionate and dedicated East London local, Albert Mudiwa Chinaire, is set to take part in the final of the Mr South Africa pageant in Cape Town on Saturday.
Speaking to the GO! before jetting off, the final year Bcom Accounting student at University of Fort Hare (UFH) said he discovered the pageant through social media.
“I thought I’d just try out and enter and see how far I’d get. I gradually made my way to the Top 20, and I also think there’s a need to represent the youth,” Chinaire said.
The 24-year-old is making a difference in his community by doing sandwich runs on Saturdays with his friends, where they feed the needy and the homeless.
“Be an influence, be a good person in your neighbourhood. Start in your community, in your city and everything will work out,” he said.
Chinaire also wants to re-define beauty standards in pageants, as the public has the notion that you need to look a certain way as well as have the “correct” body size and character to qualify.
In light of the backlash and derogatory comments made on social media when all the finalists were announced in April, Chinaire thinks that it ended up actually marketing the pageant.
“A lot of these men have done a lot in their communities, and I’d encourage the public to find out what their individual stories are,” he said.
He is also dancer, having started out at the age of five years old. He counts dancing as a huge part of his life and can’t imagine life without it.
“My mother was a dancer as well. I take part in various dance styles such as hip-hop, contemporary and modern dancing,” Chinaire said.
Voting can be done by sending an SMS ‘MRSA27’ to 40439, and it costs R2. Voting is open until Friday June 7.
