Beauty Queen Onkemetse is representing her village with distinction.
Nestled between the hustle and bustle of Hamanskraal in Pretoria and the quiet, adventurous wildlife of Bela Bela is a modest avoidable road to Tlounane village. Residents of the village celebrate modest achievements of their own – more so if they produce Miss University of Johannesburg APK Campus winner.
Onkemetse Nkhumise is the latest proud moment from the village after being chosen as the Miss UJ APK 2024.
“I heard from my mom that the village is very proud of me. She showed me their messages of congratulations and how everyone is now saying my name in gloating terms. It’s so good that everyone at home now believes at themselves,” says Onkemetse who also reveals that the coronation came closer to her special day.
“It was 10 days after my 21st birthday when I was announced as the winner. I couldn’t believe it because I wasn’t aiming for the crown. It was just so unbelievable, a very shocking and unbelievable moment,” recalls the beauty who pipped runner up Kudzai Matonga and second runner up Elizabeth Maunde.
Not that the sassy and humble girl didn’t have faith in herself. Such is a humble nature of those rooted from the villages.
Onkemetse, whose name means the one who represents me, drew inspiration from 2021 Miss South Africa and runner up to Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi.
“During my pagentry experience, I could compare myself with my competitors and I drew so much inspiration from Zozibini especially for the fact that she went to the stage with her natural hair when she had an option of going with a wig. That plus the fact that she is a black Miss South Africa,” says the 21 year old. Onkemetse who identifies herself as someone who shows her true and authentic side points out that she doesn’t believes in social media expectations.
Such is the road to her village. On the R101 road which is the poorer cousin to N1, as soon as you take a turn to her village, you will face turbulences from gravel road before you can reach your destination. So has been her travels in life!
“I just want to be a beacon of hope to people that we can all achieve so much more. I want to be an ambassador of the universe and overall the pride and joy of our university. An individual who offers inspiration to all students,” adds the last year psychology student.”
“It’s actually my last term and it went so fast. Coming here has been such a journey and this year has been such a year where lots of things happened that I never thought would happen’ she says with the first sign of negativity since we sat down.The feeling is that she doesn’t want to leave the shores of one of the best universities in the country.When most would gladly welcome retirement from studies, she just wants to do more.
With her crown on her head, Onkemetse is perfect fit for the title. Yes she came with the crown to the interview and she kept fitting it throughout the session.She is so proud of it and her reign looks to be a start of better things to come…searching for her village on Google is such a mission and she sure looks like the one to put it on the map.
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