A Miss South Africa contestant, at the center of a fierce xenophobic controversy on social networks linked to her Nigerian origins, was asked on Friday August 2 to “prove” her nationality by South Africa’s Minister of Culture.
Since the announcement in July 2024 of her qualification for the final of the national beauty competition, Chidimma Adetshina, a 23-year-old law student born in Soweto whose father is Nigerian, has been the target of xenophobic attacks.
“Why doesn’t she just provide documents that prove she’s South African?” said Minister Gayton McKenzie, known for his xenophobic stance, on national TV.
“There are beautiful young South African women who risk being deprived of this opportunity”, he added.
Over the past few weeks, comments on Chidimma Adetshina’s nationality have multiplied. Political figures, celebrities and ordinary Internet users all have an opinion on the nationality of the young woman, who nevertheless has a South African identity card and passport, according to the competition organizers.
While the messages of support are numerous, several petitions have been put online to exclude her from the competition.
The radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party expressed solidarity with the candidate, declaring the attacks on her to be “remnants of apartheid and colonization, where divisive ideologies continue to plague our society”.
“It is particularly troubling that previous female candidates of foreign origin have not been subject to similar scrutiny when they were white or Asian”, the party said in a statement. In South Africa, xenophobic tensions against African immigrants, which sometimes spill over into violence and even death, have regularly resurfaced over the past fifteen years.