Amy Kleinhans-Curd (born 1968) is a South African beauty queen who was Miss South Africa 1992, the first non-white winner in the history of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. She placed Top 5 to Miss World as

Miss World Africa Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss In ...

on 12 December 1992. Kleinhans also appears on the Afrikaans language South African reality show '' Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande''.

Miss South Africa

As a 23-year-old

Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African ethnic group consisted primarily of persons of mixed race and Khoisan descent. Although Coloureds form a minority group within South Africa, they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape ...

woman, she competed for the first time in 1991 and placed second. She competed the following year and defeated 11 other contestants for the title of Miss South Africa 1992, the first time ever a non-white woman was crowned in the history of Miss South Africa. Her first runner-up was also non-white, black woman Augustine Masilela of

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, who would be a Top 10 semifinalist at

Miss Universe 1995 Miss Universe 1995, the 44th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 12 May 1995 at the Windhoek Country Club Resort in Windhoek, Namibia. Chelsi Smith of the United States was crowned by Sushmita Sen of India at the end of the event. Eighty-two con ...

. Kleinhans would crown her successor a year later, Palesa Jacqui Mofokeng, who would be the first black Miss South Africa ever and second non-white to capture the crown. In 2014, she was guest judge in the final Miss South Africa 2014 beauty pageant, venue in the Sun City Superbowl,

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a city at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West province, South Africa (549,575 in 2011 and 626,522 in the 2016 census). In 20 ...

. Transmitted by television network DStv.

Miss World 1992

As the official representative of her

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

to the 1992 Miss World pageant held in Sun City,

on 12 December, she became

and 4th runner-up to eventual winner

Julia Kourotchkina Julia Alexandrovna Kourotchkina (russian: Юлия Александровна Курочкина; born 10 August 1974 in Shcherbinka, Russia) is a Russian actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Russia, Miss Russia 1992 and was later ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. During the pageant participants paraded with the flag of their country. Amy refused to walk with the flag of then apartheid

. She chose instead to walk with a white flag, symbolising peace. After the event she received a phone call from Nelson Mandela thanking her for making that decision. The dress she wore while participating in the pageant, a white and gold Stefania Morland design with elaborate ostrich feather details, is on exhibition at the

CP Nel Museum The CP Nel Museum is a museum in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, which houses exhibits depicting the role of the ostrich trade in the town's history, as well as the cultural history and lifestyle of the people of the Little Karoo region, as it was durin ...

in Oudtshoorn.

Personal life

Amy Kleinhans has separated from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

businessman Leighton Curd, and is still the mother of four children.

References

Living people 1968 births Coloured South African people Miss World 1992 delegates Miss South Africa winners {{SouthAfrica-bio-stub