Mia le Roux has become the first deaf woman to be crowned Miss South Africa after a divisive pageant that saw a finalist withdraw after being ridiculed for her Nigerian heritage.
In her acceptance speech, Ms Le Roux said she hoped her win would help people who feel rejected by society achieve their “wildest dreams, like I did”.
She said she wanted to help people who were “financially excluded or differently abled”.
Last week, 23-year-old law student Chidimma Adetshina withdrew from the competition following allegations that her mother may have stolen the identity of a South African woman.
Adetshina was born in South Africa to a Nigerian father and a mother of Mozambican descent.
She has been at the centre of a social media storm for weeks, with many, including a minister, questioning her right to represent the country.
She said she had been the victim of “black-on-black hatred”, highlighting a particular form of xenophobia in South Africa known as “afrophobia”, directed at people from other African countries.
Ms Le Roux, 28, was diagnosed with severe hearing loss when she was just one year old and had a cochlear implant fitted to help her hear sound.
She said it took two years of speech therapy before she was able to say her first words.
After winning, the model and marketing director said: “I am proud to be a deaf South African woman and I know what it feels like to be ostracized.
“I know now that I was put on this planet to break boundaries and I did that tonight.”
