South Africa’s national beauty pageant experienced chaos on Wednesday as the government accused the mother of a contestant of engaging in fraud and identity theft.
Chidimma Adetshina, 23, faced severe xenophobic abuse on social media due to her Nigerian heritage after being selected as a finalist in Miss South Africa in July, leading to widespread doubt about her qualifications, even from government officials.
In response to the controversy, the Home Affairs ministry launched an investigation into Adetshina’s citizenship at the request of the pageant organisers.
The ministry’s inquiry revealed initial evidence suggesting that Adetshina’s mother may have committed fraud and assumed the identity of a South African woman after her daughter’s birth.
“Reasons exist to believe that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by the person recorded in Home Affairs records as Chidimma Adetshina’s mother,” said Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
“An innocent South African mother, whose identity may have been stolen as part of the alleged fraud committed by Adetshina’s mother, suffered as a result because she could not register her child.”
AFP reports that the ministry is seeking legal counsel on the impact of Adetshina’s citizenship, noting that she was an infant then and did not participate in the alleged unlawful activities.
Both parties, Adetshina and her mother, have consented to the investigation.
According to the ministry, the probe has expanded to identify and pursue any officials involved in the alleged fraudulent scheme, emphasising the use of all available sources to uncover the truth.
The organisers of Miss South Africa did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
They had previously stated that Adetshina, a law student, held “both a South African ID and passport” and satisfied all the contestant eligibility criteria as a South African citizen.
The 23-year-old model, set to compete in the Miss South Africa finals this weekend, revealed that she was born in Soweto to a Nigerian father and a South African mother of Mozambican descent.
South Africa began granting citizenship by birth to individuals born in the country after 1995, and Adetshina was born in 2001.
Her involvement in the pageant has sparked anti-foreigner sentiment in the country, which has experienced violent and sometimes fatal attacks on immigrants in the past. Politicians, celebrities, and ordinary citizens have expressed their opinions on social media and talk shows.
Adetshina has garnered support even though some have called for her disqualification.