How a beauty queen became the face of South Africa-Nigeria tensions

Chidimma Adetshina, a law student born in Johannesburg to a South African mother of Mozambican origin and a Nigerian father, was forced to abandon her race for the Miss South Africa title after a xenophobic campaign [Fawaz Oyedeji/AFP]

Johannesburg, South Africa – Anita Odunyao Solarin, a 21-year-old Nigerian who has spent her entire life in South Africa, finds it safer not to disclose her West African roots.

She does her best to assimilate with her peers and rarely volunteers her origins. This, she says, shields her from persistent bullying – a phenomenon she’s faced since childhood after moving to South Africa as a baby.