A South African beauty pageant contestant has withdrawn from the competition after the government accused her mother of fraud and identity theft, following questions over the contestant’s citizenship.
Chidimma Adetshina, 23, said she had made the “difficult decision” to protect herself and her family before the Miss South Africa final on Saturday, and a day after the home affairs ministry said her mother may have stolen a South African woman’s identity.
The question of whether Adetshina is South African had gripped the country for weeks, with politicians, celebrities and talkshows wading in on both sides, while the law student experienced a vicious torrent of xenophobic abuse.
Adetshina said she had been born in Soweto to a Nigerian father and South African mother with “Mozambican roots”. However, this failed to stem the tide of questions, and the home affairs minister, Leon Schreiber, said on Monday that his department was investigating her citizenship at the request of the Miss SA organisation and with the consent of Adetshina and her mother.
Then, on Wednesday, the ministry said: “Prima facie 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.”
“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,” the statement said, adding that Adetshina herself was not implicated as she had been an infant at the time, in 2001.
Adetshina did not directly respond to the allegations, saying in an Instagram post: “After much careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to withdraw myself from the competition for the safety and wellbeing of my family and I.
“With the full support of the Miss South Africa Organisation, I leave with a heart full of gratitude for this amazing experience.”
Miss SA, which shared Adetshina’s post in an Instagram story, did not respond to a request for comment.
South Africa has experienced numerous outbreaks of violence against African immigrants since the end of apartheid, with high unemployment and crime fuelling xenophobia.
A person can get South African citizenship by having a South African parent, being adopted by a citizen or being born to someone with permanent residency in the country. A person can also apply for citizenship if they have lived in the country legally for four of the previous eight years.
