Swazi Observer

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MODEL CORALEE SPEAKS OUT ON NACAS EXCLUSION

By Nomfundo Sifundza | 2018-03-20

A reluctant globetrotting model Coralee Vilakati has spoken out on pulling out of the upcoming NACAs.

The upcoming awards slated for April 28 have reached out to the ends or beginning of the local entertainment industry in a bid to acknowledge and award all deserving personnel.

To ensure that all parties involved in the awards were satisfied, especially before the announcement of eventual nominees, all the individuals that were nominated by the public were reached out to either accept or decline a nomination and model Coralee was one of those who declined nomination.

The beauty said she reluctantly declined the nomination after events that unfolded the day after she had initially accepted the nomination.

“I did receive a call and had accepted the nomination at first but after the next day, I lost a gig that I had found of my own efforts but later had to let it go because I am not a member of the newly formed Models Association that is an affiliate of Swaziland National Council of Arts and Culture,” she explained. Vilakati said the following day, someone contacted her to inform her of a festival that would take place in Pretoria, South Africa, that would involve a fashion show where a Swazi designer named Tanele would showcase.

At this fashion show, Coralee claimed she was expected to carry the Swazi flag whilst showcasing Tanele’s clothes but her dream to walk the ramp in Pretoria came crumbling after the source that called her then went to SNCAC to inform them of the gig to which the office told her Coralee could not take part at the festival because she is not signed under the new Models Association.

“I then decided to pull out of both the fashion show in Pretoria and the NACAs,” she said.

Vilakati is one of the best models to have come out of the country, following her history of successes outside the borders.

She has been a brand ambassador of the long existing Darling hair brand and has walked the runways of a number of fashion shows, including the highly rated Soweto Fashion Week.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Swaziland National Council of Arts and Culture (SNCAC) Stanley Dlamini clarified that even without dropping names of all artists who declined a nomination in the upcoming prestigious event, it was actually an artist’s constitutional right to accept or decline a nomination. “It is not a right term to say an artist ‘pulled out’ because what is critical is the artist’s constitutional right to say yes or no,” he said. Dlamini also emphasised that it was not important to reveal all artists that declined a nomination in the NACAs because there is nothing wrong with the artists’ decision to take part or not. “The policy says after the nominations we go through the confirmations with the artists so I think they are exercising their right,” Dlamini said.

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