Crowning moments: a year of Mia le Roux and Natasha Vermaak's heartfelt memories

It has been exactly a year since Mia le Roux was crowned Miss SA, and social media has been flooded with emotional posts about last year’s pageant since the glamorous pageant has been postponed this year.

Miss SA 2023, Natasha Vermaak (formerly Joubert), took to social media and penned a heartfelt post since it has been a year since she handed over her crown to Le Roux.

“A year ago today was my last day as Miss SA. I posted these a year ago, and don’t know why they aren't on my feed. Memories to forever and everrr cherish,” she wrote.

The Miss SA organisation also wished Le Roux a first anniversary of her crowning and wrote: “Happy Crowniversary @mialeroux.”

This was an exciting time in SA as this moment became global history because Le Roux became the first ever deaf beauty queen, and many people with disabilities felt represented for the first time in the beauty pageant industry.

Le Roux continues to make history because she is now the second-longest reigning Miss SA after Marilyn Ramo, who held the title for 16 months in 2012.

In addition, if the Miss SA pageant does make any announcements regarding this year’s pageant until early 2026, Le Roux will actually become the longest reigning beauty queen in history, surpassing Ramos.

While this is a celebratory moment for Miss SA and Le Roux, this is also a bittersweet moment for netizens who were looking forward to this year’s pageant.

The Miss SA organisation has made significant changes in the beauty pageant this year and also revealed in July that the pageant has been pushed back to a later date.

This announcement was met with criticism from fans as they expressed their disappointment over the lack of communication from the organisation and the uncertainty surrounding this year’s pageant.

Fans continued to wish le Roux a happy anniversary of her reign despite the on-going controversies about the pageant.

“Happy Crowniversary Queen!” a social media user wrote.

Another user added: “We love to see it! Mia to be the longest reigning Miss South Africa.”