Luzaine crowned Mister Zim

Source: Luzaine crowned Mister Zim – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 30, 2019

GWERU-based male model Devson Takudzwa Luzaine was crowned Mister Zimbabwe 2019-2020 King after he shrugged off stiff competition from 14 other models at a pageant held at Dream Night Life in Harare on Saturday.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

The pageant which is the brainchild of Zim Gossip Models agency founder Mercy “Catwalk” Mushaninga was previously only hosted online for about five years before she decided to make it bigger and better in her endeavours to promote local pageantry.

Bernard “BenChest” Ndlovu of Bulawayo was crowned Mister Zimbabwe 2019-2020 Brand Ambassador, while Tatenda Njunike of Harare was crowned Mister Zimbabwe 2019-2020 People’s Choice with Ishmael Muragandi being capped Mister Zimbabwe 2019-2020 Prince.

In an interview with NewsDay Life&Style yesterday, Mushaninga said, through the pageant, she wants to promote and let the world know that Zimbabwe also has talented male models.

“It was not easy to host an event in this economy, but we had to host the show for the love and passion of promoting pageantry in Zimbabwe and with the help of Dreams Night Life. We pulled through. This is our first step, and we will keep pushing to make the modelling industry active despite the challenges,” she said.

“Modelling is a profession just like any other profession, but the acceptance in Zimbabwe is of a different narrative. If you look at Mr Zimbabwe, the pageant is still shunned by a lot of sponsors because of the alleged controversy around male models, but we hope one day we will get people who understand the industry and be partners for a better cause.”
In an earlier interview, Mushaninga described male models as trendsetters in the industry.

She said excellent character, good physique, great communication skills and deportment were critical traits for male models and dismissed claims that the majority of male models were gay.

Zimbabwe has had a long list of successful models including Jonathan Denga, Jefferson Muserera, Lungani Mkwebu and Tichaona “Tich” Maruziva.