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Miss Zim Tendai Hunda is met by friends on arrival from the Miss World contest

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
MISS Zimbabwe representative at the Miss World contest Tendai Bongani Hunda yesterday said Zimbabweans were too harsh in their criticism of her makeup as she felt she looked stunning during the competition.Hunda returned home from the United Kingdom on Tuesday afternoon and was met by representatives of Miss Zimbabwe Trust, friends and family at the Harare International Airport. South Africa’s Rolene Strauss was crowned Miss World.

While neighbours South Africa were over the moon celebrating Strauss’s crowning on social media, Zimbabweans were on the same platform berating their representative for the makeup she wore, describing it as atrocious.

Hunda said she was disheartened by the criticism by her countrymen as it was not constructive. She said she got the shock of her life on Sunday evening when she left the Miss World ramp after failing to make it to the top 25 and logged onto her Facebook account hoping to get consolation messages from friends, only to see posts of her picture taken from television with people complaining about her makeup.

“Instead of Zimbabweans shooting you down, they could have simply suggested how the makeup could have been done. I felt the criticism was not constructive as it was very harsh,” said the beauty queen.

Hunda stood by her makeup saying professional artistes provided by the Miss World organisers had done a splendid job on her face.

“We had international makeup artistes who did an amazing job on me. Out of all the African models, I was the most beautiful one. There were people who also commended the makeup artistes for making me look great.

“It was unfortunate that someone posted that picture that distorted everything and made me look dark,” she said.

Former Miss Zimbabwe, Vanessa Sibanda, consoled Hunda advising all those who had never represented the country at international platforms to shut up.

“To all of you posting nasty comments about the current Miss Zimbabwe, be sensitive will you? If you’ve never represented the country internationally, don’t judge. If you’ve never used makeup, don’t judge.

“I saw Tendai through it all, she represented her country to the best of her abilities and it’s quite annoying how people are attacking her. If she’d made it to the top, some of you posting these nasty comments would’ve been praising her and said nothing about her make-up,” wrote Sibanda on her Facebook page before urging Zimbabweans to do away with negativity.

Hunda said the Miss World experience had made her mindful that people were watching and would always look her best in public.

“After this whole experience and public criticism, I’m  now mindful of the fact that people are watching. I’ll now look my best in public. I’ve never been in the forefront or a public figure, this is my first time.

“I knew I was going to be in the spotlight, but I didn’t expect that it would come with such criticism,” she said.

Hunda said although she arrived late at the competition, she managed to make it to the top 20 of the World Top Model competition.

“My greatest achievement was making it to the top 20 of the World Top Model Competition. It’s for catwalk models and I like being on the catwalk,” she said.

Hunda thanked the Miss Zimbabwe Trust led by Marry Chiwenga for affording her a chance to represent the country.

“I want to mention how grateful I’m to the Miss Zimbabwe Trust and Chiwenga for awarding me this opportunity and for their tireless support from the day they appointed me until I went to represent the country in the UK,” she said.