San Francisco Frontiers - Ageless beauty contest: South African grannies strut the catwalk

The event in the Tokoza township 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," Malinda, a great-grandmother of five, told AFP, 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.

Floral fabrics and well-loved kitten heels hinted at celebrations past.

Supporters -- mostly women from the Sukuma Mbokodo Support Group that organised the show -- clapped, ululated and fiddled with their phones to record the spectacle.

- Feeling 'young again' -

At the makeup corner, the top request was for deep red and berry toned lipsticks but most contenders chose to let their bare faces and bright smiles shine. Nearby, a teapot served cups of chai beside trays of scones.

"They don't focus. When you are doing their makeup they want to multitask, talk, bark instructions," said 19-year-old volunteer hairdresser Ntokoza Ntshinga.

The youngest contestant was 63 years old and the oldest 81.

But it was septuagenarian Margaret Fatyela who took the silver-coated crown.

"We are now like school children," she told AFP, seated next to her modest prize of tea set and a bag of toiletries.

It was the first time the former domestic worker and mother of eight had entered a pageant.

"I feel like I am young again, capable of doing everything," she said, looking towards the first runner-up, Lidia Mokoena, who did not hide her beard.

- 'Forgotten citizens' -

Organisers said the event was intended to celebrate the grandmothers and great-grandmothers on whom South Africa's largely impoverished society depends, even if they remain in the shadows.

Nearly four in 10 children are raised in homes headed by grandparents, according to official data, with many parents forced to relocate for work, a high rate of teenage pregnancies and AIDS-related deaths among the contributing factors.

"Often times the minute they take pension they are forgotten citizens, and all they do is look after great-grandchildren and grandchildren," local official Bridget Thusi told AFP.

"To have programmes like this where they are celebrated and to forget the problems at home was really an amazing thing to see," she said.

For Malindim it was a boost after losing her husband four years ago.

"At our old age, we thought that maybe because our husbands are gone, everything is gone, it's the end of the world," she said.

But the event "picked our spirits up...taught us we are still alive and life still goes on, we better make ourselves the right grannies," she said, her brown eyes sparkling.

R.Baker--SFF