She is my all-time favourite Miss Zimbabwe, but shh! Don’t tell the other girls, bazazonda. Nomusa Ndiweni (Bulawayo, 1977) looks back, 30 years after being Contestant #12 that became our ultimate 90’s girl! Of course, we finally get her to speak about her journey into spirituality.
Read time: 8 minutes
Village: Esilobini, Matobo; Chief Bafana Ndiweni
Primaries: Chancelor Junior School, Penhalonga (Mutare District); Amandas Primary, Mazowe; Khumalo Primary, Bulawayo
Secondary: Townsend High, Bulawayo
After school: Goldsmiths, University of London (UK) [Deferred]
“Despite being perceived as a “coconut”, I was always into my culture and identity.”
The Miss Zimbabwe of…
I hated beauty pageants! I was a nerdy girl who was skinny, had knock-knees,“kiss madolo”, wore braces, was the shortest in class, and at 14 suddenly grew tall! Khonapho ngangilamaqwayibana, ngihlala ngikanyiswa inwele eskolo haha… (I had the kinkiest curly hair and would be made to comb it in school). Everyone was gossiping, “Ucakile! Kalama-hips! Kalani!” —meaning, “She’s too thin. She doesn’t have hips.” I didn’t fit into the Nguni mold of a full-figured woman.
Somehow, I ended up in the Bulawayo Junior City Council. There, we hosted Miss Teen Queen. I met Rufaro Chamboko Ncube who was at Dominican Convent High and she saw me and invited me to her agency Models Incoporated which was run by Tracey Bell. She and Vimbai Garise are the ones who unlocked my knees! The girls at Townsend High had a field day, rolling on the squash courts, cackling that I was “doing modelling!” (Sipho “NaZoe” Mazibuko was the first black winner of Miss Teen Queen in 1992 after going to Face Enterprises Modelling Agency by Bridget Kruger, alongside Sarah Mpofu-Sibanda. She also won 12 other titles including Miss Bulawayo but did not go for Miss Zimbabwe which had been banned from 1983-1992 – SJ).
The Miseducation of…
Despite being perceived as a “coconut”, I was always into my culture and identity. For my Miss Zimbabwe outfit, I asked the late MaDlamini at Amakhosi Cultural Center to make umsisi (traditional Ndebele women’s skirt – SJ) and the woven cups bustier was made by the women at City Hall Curios Market. My older sister, who was at the University of Zimbabwe bought the chiffon material. My dad was totally against it because to him, I was an academic. I lost my mom at the age of 12 turning 13, so it was important that I made him understand at first and thus, I would go for modelling classes. My family support was most important which led me to win Miss Bulawayo, taking over from Lindiwe Ngwenya, to get to Miss Zimbabwe. Late journalist Tito Asani said, “We found a treasure in Bulawayo!” My dad is a meturlogical engineer who used to work at Lonrho and we moved around when I was a child (Lonrho: London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company Limited, which at one point was run by the much scrutunised Tiny Rowland – SJ).
The Ndiweni of…
We are one Ndiweni. My grandfather, a teacher and a pastor, was Nqondi Bhazu Ndiweni and with my grandmother Ottilia Dlodlo, they acquired a plot in Matobo under the so-called Native Purchase Areas (The Rhodesian government created the world-infamous Land Apportionment Act of 1930 to segregate European and African land. In short, Africans had to buy their own land after conquest and typically only catechism teachers could afford to buy land – SJ). There were around eight Ndiweni chiefs and I hold Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni in high regard as a custodian of our culture. It might be controversial to say, but there has always been a sabotage of Matabeleland.
My uncle Dr. Paul Ndiweni, an animal scientist, was the one who actively supported me initially. He was a part of the students invited by late Ugandan president Idi Amin to Makerere University in Kampala after the-then University of Rhodesia and government kicked them out in the 1970s.
The Marginalisation of…
They absolutely hated me! They felt I didn’t deserve to be Miss Zimbabwe. I was only 19 and it was well known that they had their own person to win, but they were stunned by the crowds who kept screaming for Contestant 12. Backstage, I was attaching my Ndebele msisi, stitching it together while the other girls were boasting about their thousands of dollar outfits. The little Bulawayo girl in me kept quiet, zwi, and just did my thing. I remember Tracy Bell telling me to wear some white velvet dress. I had done the same with Miss Bulawayo with my little brothers attaching beads and painting the dress with nail polish! There was nothing glamorous behind the scenes. I literally had nothing compared to the other girls.
I won and took over Miss Zimbabwe from Dionne Best (1995), who had won over Bulawayo girl Lindiwe Ngwenya. Lindiwe had passed on the Miss Bulawayo baton to me.
The Miss World of…
In India, I was in the top 12. My uncle Godfrey who had been ambassador to India some years before dug into his old bags for left over rupees that he had saved. I didn’t even have a return flight and hotel bills were in question. He had also given me a number at the embassy in India and it turned out to be an uncle Hadebe, who was the ambassador at the time, who took me in.
The Diaspora of…
Something said to me, “You need to leave this country!” I had Air Zimbabwe prizes and hopped on to London (Visas were not required back then and the airline had daily flights – SJ). Miss Zimbabwe organisers, such as the late Kiki Divaris were very upset because for them, it seemed like a match-making event. In India and Seychelles, I had worked with Jeremy Zimmermann (the UK’s Emmy-nominated casting director – SJ) who mentored me in London. I lived there for 7 years from 1997 to 2003.
London was fun. My uncle Godfrey advised me, “Ungadingi abantu basekhaya. You left them ekhaya. Makes friends with people from all over the world instead.”
“Nginguma-wire. OMaNdiweni ngoma-wire! ”
The Filmmaking of…
While in London, the nerd in me returned and I started learning about writing scripts, film production and directing. I wrote a play called Matopos as an ode to being from there. I used to write school plays in Bulawayo and so while the public only saw “a beauty queen in front of cameras”, the nerd in me was always there.
Ngingumawaya! OMaNdiweni ngomawaya! (Ndiweni women volatile like hot wires!), and so in 2000, I took my play Why? to the Edinburg Fringe. It was on the socio-political and economic situation that was Zimbabwe. We tackled the three Cs – Christianity, Commercialisation, and Civilisation. One of the catch moments was using laundry as a metaphor to say, “Wash the whites, the coloureds and the darks, all seperately.”
The HIFA (Harare International Festival of the Arts: 1999-2001; 2003; 2006-2015; 2017-2018; 2026 – SJ) wanted me to bring it to Zimbabwe, and I refused. Soon after, I wrote another one called Matopos, and by then things had really changed and with content having to go through the Ministry of Information. I was told I couldn’t talk about Gukurahundi and had to change it. I refused that as well. It’s a historical thing it happened (Now exiled, twice-former information minister, Jonathan Moyo (2000-2005; 2013-2015), ran what observers call the “dark era” and “one of the 10 worst countries for a journalist” – SJ).
The Republic of… continues to Part Two with Nomusa Ndiweni next week on 4 August 2026,
Interview date: 22 July 2026
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Cite this article: Jermain, S. (2026, July 28). The Republic of. . . Nomusa Ndiweni. Sonny Jermain Online. https://sonnyjermain.com/the-republic-of-nomusa-ndiweni/
In-text: Parenthical – (Jermain, 2026); or Narrative – Jermain (2026).
