MIAZ steps in to revive modelling

Areas of particular concern include primarily the inapt handling of beauty pageants; the exploitative use of models and people picked on the streets to pose as models by advertising agencies and the trampling of modelling standards in general including the licencing of people who have no knowledge and experience of the profession.
According to MIAZ, which is coming round from a cat-nap induced by the economic malaise of the past few years, modelling involves pageants, fashion shows, reality television, modelling competitions, hair and skin contests as well as runway shows and parades.
MIAZ has crafted a working regulatory document, which is “still constantly being developed . . . to regulate the industry so that the standards remain at acceptable levels”.
In an interview with The Financial Gazette, MIAZ deputy chairperson, Wilbert Rukato, said there were no standards being adhered to as the industry was on a proverbial auto-pilot between 2004 to date, hence, standards had gone down drastically.
MIAZ is an affiliate of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Labour. Though its affiliation is “still pending, they are aware of our presence and we remain the custodians of the industry as we have registered companies specifically for modelling. We also have premises where we operate from besides the fact that we have the relevant experience and knowledge”.
MIAZ was set up in 2003 and before it could secure its footing, it was confronted with a debilitating operating environment due to the economic downturn of the past decade.
However, Rukato said MIAZ’s move to clean its house is a challenge to the way many pageants were being held in the country including the premier Miss Zimbabwe contest.
“Modelling nowadays is purely entertainment just like any other musical show. Pageants are being held in restaurants and bars. That is unacceptable especially in developed countries.
“We now need to go back to those days when people would come or are invited to witness a celebration of beauty and probably after that, people can go for an after-party; not what we are seeing these days. In fact, in the past, it was an honour to be invited for a national pageant, but now the glitz and glamour has now disappeared.”
He said the relaunch of MIAZ is intended to weed out those who would want to make money out of people masquerading as models and those who indulge in controversies some of which have made headlines.
Apparently, in the past few years, a number of pageants have mushroomed some of which include Miss Big Matofotofo, Miss Rural, Miss Schools, Miss Summer Strides, including the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority’s Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, to name but a few.
The Miss Rural pageant, for example, was suspended after the promoter, Sipho Mazibuko, faced serious indictments over abuses that some of the models encountered while on duty.
Besides being exposed to a world which was at odds with the rural set-up, some of the models were exposed to some wealthy prowlers who impregnated them before they realised their dreams.
Rukato said these are some of the things they would want to avoid when they re-organise the sector.
He said there is a group of men who are always after the girls and some of them are known. Some of them come in the guise of wanting to support the pageants yet they are after models.
“One of the things we would want to see though is the return of the actual Miss Zimbabwe pageant and this can run alongside Miss Tourism.
“This is simply for the reason that Miss Tourism is a branded pageant and is biased towards tourism.
“Miss Tourism models just fade away once their tenure is over at the end of each year. However, we would want to have a model who can be used by anyone as happened with the Supermodel pageant.”
The Supermodel beauty contest has been the most successful to date in the country, according to Rukato, from the viewpoint that it promoted the employment of models for some years. One of the models to come out of the pageant is Greatmore Chatya, who went on to compete in the 2005 Nokia Face of Africa competition and came out in the top five and she is now the face of Nivea for men.
Rukato had no kind words for advertising agencies particularly those that have the tendency of just picking anyone on the streets to do advertisements for various companies “when we have people trained to do the job. This is some kind of manipulation because those people are not paid accordingly”.
“What we are saying is that there are professional people trained to do such kind of work and they should be given the opportunity to get value for their work . . . What should be happening is that these advertising agencies must approach accredited model agencies when they need models to advertise various products.”
He said MIAZ had put in place a schedule of rates for models that applies to various categories of ads.
In September, Rukato said, MIAZ will be organising an event where all stakeholders in the industry would be invited to know what the association will be doing in its efforts to re-direct the industry. That’s where the final working document would be presented.
Rukato said all model agencies must now be accredited with MIAZ. The criterion for accreditation is already in place.
“If this industry is properly handled, you can have (international model) agents flying in from South Africa, etc, to scout for talent and the models can get life-changing contracts . . . We would want to do the same with Miss Zimbabwe.
“While we appreciate that there are some people who might not know that we exist, after the all-stakeholder event we are planning, we would be calling a spade a spade.”
MIAZ is a group of model agencies and casting agencies around the country. Model agencies include modelling and casting agencies, grooming and deportment entities.