Shudu: 'It still feels like I'm dreaming; I can't believe it's me'

A year ago, Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida quit her retail job with a steady income to follow her dreams.

It’s a move that paid off – after all the 24-year-old believes that had she stayed, she would never have entered the pageant that turned her into Mzansi’s beacon of hope.

Musida invites me into her upscale Central Square apartment, nestled in the heart of Sandton, Johannesburg, to reflect on her mammoth year that is ending with Sowetan naming her "Star of the Year".

Before moving into her fully furnished luxurious home on November 1, Musida resided in a modest North Riding flat, in Randburg.

“Sometimes I wake up and feel like I’m dreaming,” she says. “I sleep with my curtains open so that the first thing I see when I wake up is the view of Sandton and I still can’t believe that this is my life.”

For five months between July and December last year, Musida was a fashion stylist at a Hyde Park boutique that serviced the rich and fabulous of Johannesburg north.

About the same period, she graduated with her degree in philosophy, politics and economics. But a few days after Christmas Day she quit the job, took all her savings and booked the first flight to Cape Town to find herself.

Musida, who has been a model since the age of 17, used all her savings from booking international campaigns and appearing in British Vogue at one stage.

Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida . (Veli Nhlapo)

“I started the job to pay for my fees for my last degree because in order to graduate, I needed to pay for my fees. Just after Christmas, I quit and told my boss that I want to be happy,” the beauty queen recounts.

“I graduated with a big degree and I felt like I didn’t give myself enough of a chance with it. It was a great job, but the more I stayed at the job the more I neglected my dreams.”

Upon her return to Johannesburg a month later, she secured a full scholarship to obtain her BA Honours in international relations. Musida is awaiting her final results, but she is very confident that she has passed.

“I have to count my blessings. My year started on a high note; basically everything that I wanted I got,” Musida says.

“Even before I got the crown so many things that I prayed for I got and the Miss SA crown was just a culmination of everything that has been happening this year.”

Musida’s life changed forever when she was crowned Miss SA at the end of October – a journey that started in May when she entered. Miss SA was the first pageant she ever entered.

“Access to opportunity has been the biggest change because sometimes you find that you are studying but you don’t know if you are going to get a job thereafter,” Musida says.

“Now so many opportunities have been opened up for me where I get to show myself to the world. So many South Africans don’t have that, so this is such a blessing.”

A victory tour of her home province of Limpopo last month has been her highlight so far. Musida was born in HaMasia village in Venda, Limpopo.

Now so many opportunities have been opened up for me where I get to show myself to the world. So many South Africans don’t have that, so this is such a blessing

“I think that’s when it sunk in that I’m Miss SA – that the crown is not only mine but a reflection of so many dreams. The smiles on everyone’s faces showed that the crown is a symbol of hope for everyone,” Musida says.

After her reign Musida wants to leave a legacy of changing the narrative around mental health in SA.

“We are living through a pandemic where people have lost jobs and loved ones. We basically live in fear every day because even when you walk with someone you wonder if that’s the person that’s going to give you Covid,” Musida says.

“That kind of anxiety is not healthy and we can’t even talk about that. Those are the conversations we need to start having, that it’s OK not to be OK.”

Musida recalls her first encounter with stress and anxiety when she wrote her final exam for maths paper 2.

“It was not even the stress of not doing well in the paper. It’s the stress of what other people will say if you don’t do well,” Musida says.

“Then there is the pressure from your family if you don’t do well from university because you are possibly their last hope.”

Musida will take her campaign on mental health to the Miss World pageant next year. But, of course, all everyone has been talking about is why is she not following in Zozibini Tunzi’s footsteps at Miss Universe?

“I think my biggest quality is me being myself all the time. Miss SA is about woman empowerment, while Miss World is about duty and service,” Musida points out.

“Those are the things that define me even before I go there. With Miss SA before I won I was already doing the work. With Miss World service is something that is engrained in who I am from a young age. Miss Universe is more glitz and glamour.”

But for now Musida just wants to take a short break from the spotlight and spent some quality time with her mother Thandi and younger sister Zwonka during the holiday season.

Shudu’s perfect Xmas day feast: