Bulawayo braces for Mr Ugly contest

Bulawayo's ugliest will this year get a chance to walk away with the Zimbabwe Mr Ugly title, with the popular pageant set to hold its provincial finals in the City of Kings at the beginning of next month.

Last year Bulawayo was sidelined as the contest's organisers mainly concentrated on the capital and its surrounding areas.

However, after the event became a sensation that went viral on social media and managed to make headlines in international media, it is now set to come to the country's second largest city.

Last week the contest held its preliminary rounds for Harare province with two-time champion, William Masvinu, shrugging off competition from five other contestants to win a place in the Mr Ugly Harare competitions also set to be held next month.

"We are definitely coming to Bulawayo next month and we have already set up a team that are handling the logistics of the pageant that side. We could not bring the contest to Bulawayo last year unfortunately but this year we have the backing that we need to make the contest a reality," said pageant organiser David "Apama" Machowa.

Machowa said they were looking to find the winner of the contest in the City of Kings over three rounds.

"Right now we are looking at finding the winner after three contests with two preliminary rounds followed by a final contest. However, that will depend on how many contestants we receive over the next month. If we fail to get the necessary numbers then we will just hold one contest," he said.

Machowa said that after the contest had become a worldwide phenomenon, they were now building towards the Mr Ugly Africa contest later on in the year. Countries that have so far committed to taking part in the continental contest include South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Uganda and Tanzania.