She recently sat down in a round table discussion on Human Rights Day on 21 March at Flame Studios hosted by SAfm presenter Songezo Mabece at Constitutional Hill with former Public Protector, Adv Thuli Madonsela, and arranged by the Constitution Hill Trust. Reigning Miss South Africa, Ndavi Nokeri shared her life's journey mirrored against the backdrop of South African human rights struggles. The dialogue was a build-up towards the Human Rights Festival at Constitution Hill on 24 March. "Human Rights Day is about celebrating how far we have come as a country, but also a reminder to look back at how far we have come as a nation. Often, we are focused on what is happening around us and do not acknowledge and celebrate what we have done right as a nation and the freedom we have. So, yesterday was a reminder of how far we have come,' Ndavi tells ZiMoja.?

AN ADVOCATE FOR EQUALITY?

Ndavi grew up slightly more privileged than some of her peers from her village of Ngabaza in Limpopo but understood from a young age that despite the differences, they were equal. "I am an advocate for equality and having that insight from a young age helped me to see the bigger picture in my life as an adult,' she says.

BULLIED AFTER MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT

She recently competed at the 71st Miss Universe Pageant in New Orleans with 90 women from around the world where she made it to the top 16. Ndavi's predecessor Lalela Mswane was crowned the second runner-up at the pageant in 2022 and Miss South Africa in 2019, and Zozibini Tunzi was crowned Miss Universe in 2020. Upon her return, Ndavi received both positive and negative feedback from fans. "I will not lie, the negative criticism was not easy to take on but I was focusing my energy on people who wanted to celebrate with me,' she says. "I always focus on positive energy and the achievement and not so much on what could have been." Ndavi says social media can be challenging with everyone feeling they can have an opinion, but she takes the criticism with a pinch of salt. "I am human, I do get offended at times. But I am someone who thinks things through, a lot. I do not act irrationally when I am being criticised. I look at whether or not the criticism is relevant and who it's coming from. Some people I wouldn't listen to their positive advice and therefore cannot listen to the negative either. But I grow by listening to constructive criticism.'?

HAVING HER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATED

Still, in the month of human rights celebrations, Ndavi like many people in South Africa has also once had her human rights violated. "I don't think anyone in South Africa can say they have never experienced a violation of their human rights in a way,' she says. "We live in a time where Gender-Based Violence is prevalent everywhere and I, myself am not exempt from it,' she says. "I have gone through it as well. I have experienced Gender-Based Violence, personally. But also, within my family. Hopefully, we can have more conversations about it and change the minds of many men in society. We need to build a nation where my niece doesn't have to say she also experienced it like me. It shouldn't be normalised like it has been today.'