The Miss SA organisation has found themselves at the helm of controversy once again.
In the midst of the excitement at finally revealing the official Miss SA 2025 Top 10 beauty queens who will be competing for the crown this year, an allegation of bullying has surfaced.
Bridgett Jones, who is is from Bridgetown in Athlone and is representing the Western Cape province, was publicly challenged by Kayla Jenecker. Jenecker, who is also involved in the industry, is the founder of the Miss Mitchells Plain beauty pageant.
Jenecker took to TikTok to reveal in three parts how she was constantly bullied for two years by Jones when they were working together.
To further support her claims, Jenecker shared an old picture of both her and Jones when they used to work together and called out the Miss SA organisation and asked them if they want Jones to be a part of their brand.
She captioned the picture: “This is Bridgett Jones… The girl who bullied me in my workplace with a group of other women, not the best picture but here she is. Is this what @official_misssa want their future Miss SA to be a BULLY!!!”
After I sealed the R1,5 million deal, everything changed in the office. I was working with three other women, the boss was also there but these three women made my life a living hell.
Jenecker further added that she was often and purposely isolated from the group that Jones was a part of.
“They would exclude me from their chats, during lunchtimes they would go out alone and not ask me to join them, they would gossip about me, make remarks, make fun of me, make comments about me wearing heels everyday to work, make comments about my make-up,” she said.
She further said that the bullying took a toll on her mental health as well as physical health.
While others might say that this is an old issue, bullying actually has long-lasting effects on a person.
It shatters one’s confidence and it also affects you mentally and physically because you end up thinking that you might be the problem.
In other cases, it goes beyond that and people end up committing suicide like the tragic case of a grade 10 pupil, Lufuno Mavhunga who committed suicide after she was bullied and a clip of her being violently attacked by a fellow learner, circulated on social media.
This is not the first time that a Miss SA contestant was accused of being a bully, in 2023 Levern José, who was a part of the Top 12 finalists, was forced to withdraw from the competition after she was exposed on X for being a bully in high school.
Other former Miss SA finalists who got exposed for their not-so-kind past and were left with no choice but to withdraw include, Bianca Schoombe, Zizile Mthembu and Oneida Cooper.
"Independent Media Lifestyle" reached out to the Miss SA organisation for comment, but they did not respond at the time of publication. This is a developing story.
