Grannies strut catwalk again

AT 17, Joyce Malindi won her first beauty contest under the suffocating limits of apartheid South Africa.

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Fifty-five years later, she was back on the catwalk, silver curls gleaming and brown clogs clicking, in a pageant for grandmothers only.

The event in Thokoza outside of Johannesburg featured prayers, speeches and a performance against domestic violence, a national scourge. But the main attraction was on the red carpet stretching down the community hall where grandmothers paraded with pride in a competition that is rare among the host of others for younger women.

“This takes me way back, brings my youth back,” Malindi, a great-grandmother of five, said, breaking into a joyful jig to Happy Mama by legendary jazz musician Hugh Masekela.

In this version of a beauty contest there were no swimsuit or evening wear categories. Instead, women paraded in their Sunday best, from sleeveless summer frocks to bold orange headwraps, strings of pearls to traditional wear.