The Miss SA organization has come out guns-blazing to slam City Press, after it published an article on Sunday, titled Is She or Not?, which speculates whether the reigning Miss South Africa Sasha-Lee Olivier, is pregnant or not.
The publication speculated based on a photo posted by Miss SA on Instagram, where she donned a mustard dress sitting at a bar. The Miss SA organization said it was contacted in an email by City Press Journalist Ntombizodwa Makhoba, who said she received a tip-off which suggests that Miss SA is pregnant and wanted to confirm the rumors.
"The Miss South Africa Organisation replied, stating categorically that Sasha-Lee is not pregnant. It was left at that. We did not condone entering into any salacious debate about Sasha-Lee’s body given the degrading and discriminatory intentions of this article." said Miss SA organization in a statement.
The article also features a comment from Former Miss SA coordinator Thobile Sithole who is quoted saying "If Miss SA falls pregnant during her reign, it would go against international standard rules."
The Miss South Africa Organisation said, it has no knowledge of any such person and can state that no-one of that name has worked on the pageant since 2013. To this end, the Miss South Africa Organisation said it is further appalled by the lack of vetting utilized when asking for official comment and representation from the organization itself.
They said the article is pure body shaming, implying that if Sasha-Lee is not pregnant then she is fat. They also said in a week in which President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks out against Gender-Based Violence, the Miss South Africa Organisation is horrified about the story.
The organization said it will be taking legal actions against City Press "The Miss South Africa Organisation will be taking legal advice and action. We replied timeously to City Press who still went ahead and published a piece with comment from someone who has nothing to do with the current Miss South Africa Organisation." said Miss SA organization in a statement.
In a live video on Instagram Sasha-Lee also slammed the reports.
