Miss SA Zozibini Tunzi is proud of her blackness

Image: Instagram

Miss SA Zozibini Tunzi has spoken out against trolls who have left negative comments about her blackness.

Tunzi has been vocal when it comes to social justice issues such as gender-based violence and femicide.

During the pageant, when asked by Anele why women had to keep smiling, she said: "We have absolutely no reason to keep smiling because South African women are dying every day.

"And mostly people are doing nothing about it. I think it's time we stop asking women what to do and start asking perpetrators to do better, to be better, to start treating women the way that they deserve to be treated. It is not up to us, it is up to the perpetrators to start doing right. "

Taking to her Instagram page on Wednesday, Tunzi shared a post dedicated to brown skinned girls concerning the negative comments she'd received due to her blackness, saying the comments received was nothing new for women of colour.

She said society had been programmed to view anything not black as beautiful and the furthest "you are from being fair-skinned the uglier you".

"This universal standard of beauty has been an uphill battle for people to unlearn".

Tunzi hoped that, at the Miss Universe pageant, she'd be able to shatter these "misconception and stereotypes people have of beauty". "People of colour should keep inserting themselves in spaces where we (people of colour) have been told we do not belong".

"Those who think black isn't beautiful must get ready to experience the depth and magic of a black woman."

View this post on Instagram

I just want to take a moment to dedicate a post to the unkind comments that I have been receiving about my blackness since my crowning. To comments that are aimed at all brown skinned girls at some point in our lives. Not because it hurts me or gets under my skin, but because I see an opportunity to educate and speak out on a serious issue. When people say hurtful, negative things about black women and black people in general I do not quickly take offense and here's why. Society has previously been programmed in such a way that there's nothing beautiful about being black. The furthest you are from being fair skinned the uglier you are. That unfortunately has been the universal standard of beauty and it is very difficult for some people to unlearn it. I am going into Miss Universe with hopes to shatter whatever misconception and stereotypes people have of beauty. These comments are exactly why we should keep inserting ourselves in spaces where we have been told we do not belong and we will never make it. It is up to us re-write the narrative. To whoever else thinks that black is not beautiful I cannot wait for you to experience the depth and magic of a black woman. I am a daughter of the African soil and I am beautiful. See your face reflected in mine❤️ #misssouthafrica #missuniverse

A post shared by Zozibini Tunzi(@zozitunzi) on Sep 11, 2019 at 11:35am PDT

Tunzi recently walking at New York Fashion Week for local design house MaXhosa and while she was overjoyed to be in the Big Apple, she mentioned in an Instagram post that her "heart is back home with all the women in this difficult time."

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