Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa is crowned the new Miss Universe 2019 held at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, December 8, 2019.
The new queen is 26 years old from Tsolo, South Africa. Tunzi is described in her Miss Universe biography as a “passionate activist engaged in the fight against gender-based violence.”
Tunzi had previously been crowned Miss South Africa 2019. She is the third woman from South Africa to win the title, and the first black woman since Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe 2011.
South Africa Zozibini Tunzi crowned Miss Universe 2019
The Miss Universe 2019 top three Puerto Rico (1st runner-up), Mexico (2nd runner-up), and South Africa (Miss Universe 2019) were asked the same question “What is the most important thing we should be teaching young girls today?” during the Final Word.
Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa answered, “The most important thing we should be teaching young girls today is leadership. It’s something that has been lacking in young girls and women for a very long time, not because we don’t want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity and that’s what we should be teaching these young girls to take up space. There is nothing more important than to take up space in the society.”
Zozibini said in her final speech, “I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, is never considered to be beautiful, and I think that it is time that stops today. I want children to look at me and see my face, and I want them to see their faces reflected in mine.”
Meanwhile, Philippines’ Gazini Ganados grabbed the Miss Universe 2019 wild card and made it to the pageant’s top 20.