South Africa has announced that it will take away identification documents from a South African beauty queen who is now representing Nigeria in the upcoming Miss Universe pageant.
The move is the latest in the ongoing dispute over Chidimma Adetshina, who is of South African and Nigerian nationalities
The beauty queen has been at the centre of an unfortunate nationality row. Born in South Africa to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican-born mother with South African citizenship, Adetshina faced a backlash when she sought to compete in the Miss South Africa beauty pageant.
The 23-year-old was subject to xenophobic attacks over her dual identity, even drawing criticisms from government officials and accusations that she was not South African. As a result of the controversy, she withdrew from the beauty contest, saying it was for her and her family’s “safety and wellbeing.”
The Department of Home Affairs began investigating her case after she became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant. The beauty queen faced fearce criticism especially on-line as people questioned her eligibility to compete because her mother has Mozambican roots and her father is Nigerian.
In August the department announced that her mother might have committed “identity theft” to become a South African national.
Ms Adetshina, a law student, went on to win Miss Universe Nigeria after she was invited to participate by the organisers.
The Department of Home Affairs made the announcement about the withdrawal of her ID papers to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
Tommy Makhode, the top civil servant at the department, said Ms Adetshina’s mother would also have her documents cancelled as they had both failed to meet Monday’s deadline to provide reasons why they should be eligible to keep them.
Neither Ms Adestshina nor her mother have commented on the move to revoke their papers.
Ms Adetshina has just arrived in Mexico to represent Nigeria at the Miss Universe competition to be held on 16 November.
She will compete against contestants from across the world, including Mia le Roux, who won this year’s Miss South Africa contest.