News & Media

The 2008 edition of the longest running beauty contest in history, the Miss World pageant, was hosted by the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Saturday 13 December 2008.

Africa’s most popular and versatile banqueting and conference venue has secured the right to stage this prestigious event after political unrest on Russia’s border with Georgia forced organisers to move the pageant, which was to have been held in Kiev on October 4 2008.

Johannesburg was amongst several alternate host venues identified. The Sandton Convention Centre was nominated by the Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) as its host venue of choice.  Johannesburg Tourism Company in conjunction with Sandton Convention Centre submitted a joint bid with JTC as the main sponsor.

“This is fantastic news for the Sandton Convention Centre and the city of Johannesburg,” says Mati Nyazema, Executive Director of Sandton Convention Centre.

“Not only are we able to offer a world class venue that can compete with similar facilities anywhere in the world, we have the tourism infrastructure to support the staging of this large and significant event.

“We are confident that our venue will contribute to the successful staging of the 2008 Miss World pageant,” she says.

Announcing the selection of Johannesburg as the host city, Julia Morley, Chairman of Miss World Limited, said she had been impressed by the city’s bid.
"The speed with which they implemented their proposal and their professionalism demonstrates that we can stage a successful Miss World [in Johannesburg]," Morley told reporters.
The 58th annual Miss World contest will mark the 6th time that this gala event has been held in South Africa. The pageant took place at Sun City from 1992 to 1995 as well as in 2001.
The world’s beauties will descend on Johannesburg for four weeks and visit many South African landmarks before China’s Zhang Zi Lin hands over her crown to her successor.
“The selection of the Sandton Convention Centre is further confirmation of its excellent reputation for staging major international events,” said Nyazema.

“South Africa is a popular destination for entertainment and business functions and it will continue to be in demand as the 2010 FIFA World Cup draws closer and beyond 2010.

“The Miss World pageant will be broadcast to a global TV audience in over 200 countries which will provide a major opportunity to showcase what the SCC, the city of Johannesburg and indeed South Africa has to offer business and leisure tourists,” she said.

Major events recently staged at the venue include the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State Government Summit in August, International Public Television (INPUT) annual conference in May, the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (ACMEN) in June, and the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) in July. 

Forthcoming major events include the African Diaspora Summit in October and Soccerex, a four-day networking conference for rights holders and suppliers involved in international soccer, in November.

A month later, on December 13, South African hopes at Miss World 2008 will be carried by Miss South Africa, Tansey Coetzee, who will compete in front of her home crowd in her birth city.
Since the pageant’s inauguration in 1951, two South African beauty queens have been crowned Miss World, Penny Coelen in 1958 and Anneline Kriel in 1974.
The country has also produced three runners-up – Basetsane Makgalemele (1994), Jacqui Mofokeng (1993) and Pearl Jansen (1970).

Editor’s note:

The multi-award winning Sandton Convention Centre offers unlimited potential with over 22 000m² of state-of-the-art meeting, exhibition and special event space.  Sandton Convention Centre experienced an increase of 27% from 2007 to 2008, and the number of exhibitions staged at SCC since 2003 have doubled. Purpose-built to international standards, the Sandton Convention Centre is able to host meetings, conferences, exhibitions and special events of virtually any size and nature.  It offers some of the most advanced technology available for convention and exhibition centres anywhere in the world.  Multiple events can be staged simultaneously on four main levels, and 10 000 visitors can be accommodated at any one time.  A team of highly-trained staff is on hand to provide support services. Its central position in the heart of Sandton provides easy access to Johannesburg International Airport, the Sandton CBD, major hotels and shopping centres.

For further media information, please contact:

Lilane Swanepoel – Baird’s Renaissance
(011) 504-4000  /  Cell : 083 973 3531  /  e-mail : janet@bairds.co.za