South Africa's Zozibini Tunzi Celebrates Anniversary of Reign as Miss Universe

(Photo : Getty Images/Paras Griffin)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 08: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi, of South Africa, just before she is crowned, appears onstage at the 2019 Miss Universe Pageant at Tyler Perry Studios on December 08, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.

It has been a year of happiness and tears for Miss Universe Zozi Tunzi from South Africa, who this week commemorated the anniversary of her Miss Universe triumph. The Eastern Cape beauty has had an eventful year: being inundated with tonnes of toilet paper from concerned COVID-19 hoarders to a humiliating chair incident in Indonesia.

Miss Universe 2019's Virtual Reign

The 68th year of Miss Universe was held on December 8, 2019, at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, US, and history was created as Zozibini Tunzi was hailed as Miss Universe 2019. Tunzi's win was a third win for South Africa at the Miss Universe competition. The two other women were Margaret Gardiner in 1978 and Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters in 2017. She was also the first black woman to don the Miss Universe crown following Miss Universe 2011 titleholder Leila Lopes.

The moment of crowning forever changed Zozibini Tunzi's life when she was hailed as the winner of Miss Universe one year ago. Now, the beauty queen took to social media to commemorate the milestone of her Crowniversary.

Tunzi wrote on Instagram, "And so there it was! A moment orchestrated by the heavens. A moment manifested by my ancestors and brought to life by the union of those who created me.This! The beginning of the rest of my life. Happy 365 days Miss Universe."

A first in collective history, four black women have been hailed to carry major beauty pageant titles: Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Teen America, and now, Miss Universe. The crowning of such women has countered the long-standing legacy that privileges European standards of beauty in the world of pageants.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Miss Universe 2020 was postponed. Every moment from hereon now will simply be icing on the cake till Tunzi meets her successor in 2021, reported Norman's Blog.

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Tunzi also continues to amaze numerous people with her singing talent. She piqued attention when she posted on Instagram footage of herself singing "Runnin' (Lose It All)" by Naughty Boy featuring Beyoncé and Arrow Benjamin. Channeling her inner Beyoncé, she impressed her 2.7 million Instagram followers.

A user commented on what Tunzi could not do. Numerous fans, including Malaysian singer and "Crush" hitmaker Yuna, gave the video a like.

The Eastern Cape beauty defeated Madison Anderson from Puerto Rico and Sofía Aragon from Mexico in the top three.

She amazed the judges and fans over the course of the contest as she managed to swoop the title, taking over from Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray from the Philippines.

Tunzi used her global platform to strive for gender equality, indicating she would like to encourage young women and girls to "tap into their power" and use their voice.

According to Miss Universe 2019, "We're really taught to be followers from a very young age - men lead and women follow. I think it's important because we're killing so many dreams of young girls. We're killing so many opinions they have. They could resolve so many issues in the world, but they can't because they're not given their platform," reported VOA.