By Fanuel Viriri
Born in Harare and raised by her grandmother in Buhera, Manicaland Province, Shirley Nyanyiwa was the first black Miss Zimbabwe at the dawn of Independence.
The national beauty pageant trailblazer’s elegance and poise earned her the coveted title, making her a celebrated figure in the country’s history.
Shirley (67) currently lives in Harare and is the widow of the former Zimbabwe Cricket president Peter Chingoka who passed away on 22 August 2019. The couple’s children are Farai and Dambudzo.
Shirley was 22 when she was crowned Miss Zimbabwe in 1980, the first black Zimbabwean to have that crown and honour bestowed on her.
Shirley was born at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital. She is the eldest of three children of a doctor and nursing sister. She was brought up by her grandmother in Buhera while her parents were working abroad.
She and her siblings only returned to Salisbury in 1967 when their mother returned from Britain. Two years later, Shirley’s father died.
Shirley went to Mhizha Primary School in Highfield and then Highfield Secondary School. She sat for her O Levels at a commercial college and failed to progress to A Level due to lack of funds. She later attended a commercial college in the city. She got a job as a reservations clerk at British Airways. Shirley ventured into modelling after being encouraged to take up the course. She entered a local beauty pageant, Miss Flame Lily, and came second.
A few weeks later, she entered Miss Harare and won the title. Then she went on to win the Miss Zimbabwe title.
Shirley went on to represent Zimbabwe at Miss World. She finished 12th with the title going to Miss Germany, Gabriella Brum, while Miss Guam, Kimberley Santos, took the silver crown. However, Brum resigned just 14 hours after winning the title after newspaper reports said she had posed nude for her 52-year-old boyfriend in the United States. Kimberley Santos automatically became Miss World. This effectively meant that Shirley moved to 12th place, which was quite a phenomenal achievement from a field of 68 international beauties. Note that Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. Situated in the Micronesia subregion, it is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands. The island covers roughly 210 square miles and is home to about 168,000 residents.
