IT'S A bitter sweet victory for Miss Soweto 2009 Keneilwe Madubo.

She might be queen but that is where it ends because, as is the norm for all queens of the sprawling township, she will not be considered for interviews for the prestigious Miss South Africa as she has fallen short.

Over the years beauties who have won this competition have gone on to enter Miss South Africa and fared well, but the sad thing for this queen is that she does not have the required height to be considered.

The required height is 1,68m, and Madubo stands at 1,64m.

She is aware of this, though, and winning Miss Soweto is a dream come true for the stunning 19-year-old beauty.

"I have worked hard to be where I am. For years I have been turned down by modelling agencies because of my height. So this is special," she told Sowetan after being crowned on Saturday night.

She was sad that she would not be considered for interviews for the country's top honours in the beauty world.

This has now opened doors for surprise first princess Lerato Mokoena and second princess Refiloe Motseng to be considered for the pageant.

Madubo was the crowd favourite, judging by their response as each of the 20 beauties strutted on stage at Maponya Mall on Saturday night.

The swimsuit section did not disappoint as "yoh, yoh" gasps greeted the contestants.

It's a pity the organisers failed to do their homework when it came to providing a quality sound system.

The sound was so poor that it did a disservice to the efforts of Bongi Dube, daughter of legendary reggae superstar Lucky Dube, who tried very hard to entertain and engage the crowd.

But the night belonged to Madubo.

She admitted, though, that she didn't think she answered the ultimate question right.

The question was how she was going to represent Miss Soweto if she won.

"I don't remember what I said but the important thing is that there are a lot of responsibilities that go with this crown and I hope people out there will work with me," she said.

If only height could be bought.