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From Melissa Mpofu in Harare
Twenty-two-year-old Cynthia Mafumhe, a University of Zimbabwe pharmaceutical student was on Saturday evening crowned Black Opal Face of Zimbabwe, beating 15 contestants at a glamourous pageant held at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC).

The well-organised event attracted people from all walks of life, commanding a full house, with all sizes of women taking to the ramp to showcase their facial beauty.

Crowd and Black Opal Facebook page followers’ favourite – Hazel Kurwakumire from Harare who had been tipped by many to win the beauty contest, was crowned 1st Princess while Mercy Kamangire was crowned second princess.

As part of her prizes, Mafumhe received $8,000 and a year’s supply of Black Opal products. Kurwakumire walked away with $4,000 while Kamangire pocketed $2,000.

The 16 contestants, who were mostly modelling novices, were well trained and one could not tell that it was their first time to strut their stuff on the ramp. Bulawayo was represented by Tanaka Manyuzu and Tatenda Mugwambi.

The pageant which had its main focus on contestants facial beauty and their knowledge of Black Opal products, at some point, had people shifting from looking at the contestants’ faces to looking at their backs as their outfits, courtesy of Chic Street, were revealing, leaving some men drooling.

Though Black Opal seemed to have hit the right chord on the selection of contestants as the judges and voting public were spoilt for choice, the announcement of the Queen turned out to be an anti-climax as there was not much excitement from the crowd.

It seemed judges themselves were also not impressed by the outcome as one of the judges, ZiFM’s MisRed, before announcing the winner, told the audience that if they were not satisfied with the chosen Queen, they had no one, but themselves to blame.

“If you didn’t vote for the person you wanted, she isn’t going to win.

“No matter how many times a judge could’ve voted for that person, if you didn’t vote enough times, then they aren’t winning as it’s the public votes that matter,” MisRed said.

Consoling losing contestants, one of the organisers of the event, Tanaka Ngorora said: “You’re all Black Opal Face of Zimbabwe’s when you use Black Opal. You’ve all been our ambassadors from the moment you were our finalists and no one can take that away from you.”

But, in no time, people had forgotten about their displeasure of the newly crowned Queen as artistes, Jah Prayzah, Black Opal brand ambassador — Shinsoman, Souljah Love and Bounty Lisa gave people a reason to celebrate.

Ordinarily, people leave pageants once the Queen has been crowned but that was not the case at BOFOZ. If anything, the event only started when Shinsoman took to the stage and eventually Jah Prayzah.

A few moments later, the venue filled to the rafters. The artistes made it difficult for guests to leave the auditorium as their well-choreographed acts left one with no option, but not to move an inch from where they were seated as they churned out hit after hit.

Souljah Love – Chibaba Chacho and his beau – Bounty Lisa stole the show as they performed together, sending fans into a frenzy. Known for absconding from shows, Souljah Love proved fans wrong as he performed well and not in a hurry.

Clad in a colourful red suit, the artiste showed fans that Zimdancehall was still alive, commanding a huge following as people sang along to all his tracks.