South Africa to strip beauty queen of ID documents
Published: 30/Oct/2024
Source: BBC News
By Danai Nesta Kupemba
Beauty queen Chidimma Adetshina, who has been at the centre of a fierce nationality row, is to be stripped of her South African identity and travel documents.
The Department of Home Affairs began investigating her case after she became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant, but faced criticism as people questioned her eligibility to compete because her mother has Mozambican roots and her father is Nigerian.
She withdrew from the competition in August after 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 controversy sparked a wave of xenophobic vitriol in South Africa after which Ms Adetshina told the BBC she would need therapy to recover.
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.
Read further: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0lpdl2lweo