Miss Malawi fallout: Thandi Chisi spills the beans

…Miss Malawi contract deliberately changed

…Queen told to borrow money for pageant licence

Reigning Miss Malawi Thandi Chisi has spilled the beans on the controversy surrounding her snub for Miss World 2026. First Princess Ireen Navicha, the daughter of Cabinet minister Mary Navicha, was sent to represent Malawi in Vietnam instead.

Chisi says the Miss Malawi Organisation changed her contract. The changes removed the guarantee that the winner of Miss Malawi would represent the country at an international pageant.

She was then asked to borrow money to help secure a Miss Supranational licence. This was despite initially being told that the organisers would cover the costs of her participation.

The revelations add a new twist to the controversy surrounding the decision to send Navicha to Miss World instead of the reigning queen.

Navicha’s mother, Mary Navicha, is a Cabinet minister and senior member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). There is no evidence that her political position influenced her daughter’s selection.

Contract changed

Chisi says the agreement she initially entered into was later changed. According to her, the revised contract removed the guarantee that the Miss Malawi winner would represent the country at an international pageant.

The change became significant as uncertainty grew over which international competition Chisi would attend. She says she was initially informed that the organisers would pay for the licence needed for her participation at Miss Supranational.

That position later changed. Chisi says she was asked to borrow the money herself to help secure the licence. She says she was not given an explanation as to why she had to borrow the money when the organisers had initially undertaken to cover the cost.

People chasing Miss Malawi debts contacted Thandi

Chisi has also made further claims about the organisation’s finances. She says several people who claimed they were owed money by the Miss Malawi organisers contacted her directly.

According to Chisi, the creditors approached her because they had been led to believe that she would settle the outstanding debts.

The reigning queen says this added to the uncertainty surrounding her relationship with the organisation.

Age explanation falls apart

The revelations come after the Miss Malawi Organisation faced scrutiny over its decision to handpick First Princess Ireen Navicha for Miss World. It was initially reported that Chisi could not represent Malawi because her age made her ineligible.

But that explanation did not stand up to scrutiny.

Chisi was 27 years old and remained within Miss World’s published age range. She would still have been 27 when the Miss World final was held.

More damaging to the explanation was the fact that several other 27-year-old contestants were accepted for Miss World 2026. They included representatives from Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Guyana, Nepal, Scotland, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

The age explanation had effectively fallen apart.

Then came Miss Universe

After questions were raised over the age claim, the explanation shifted.

The Miss Malawi team indicated that Chisi was instead earmarked for Miss Universe, which does not have an upper age limit.

But there was another problem.

Chisi says she had already told the organisers that she would not participate at Miss Universe.

The organisation later offered another explanation. It said there had been plans to send the top three Miss Malawi contestants to different international pageants.

That still left unanswered the central question: if Chisi was eligible for Miss World and had already declined Miss Universe, why was the reigning queen not selected for Miss World?

Instead, that ticket went to Navicha.

When approached over the controversy, the Miss Malawi organisers reportedly told local media that they had no comment on the matter. The sponsors, Goshen City which is owned by Prophet Shepherd Bushiri had distanced itself from the controversy, saying they are not the reason Chisi was snubbed.