Chidimma Adetshina, a 25-year-old law student and former Miss Universe Nigeria contestant, is contesting South African authorities' efforts to deport her, insisting she was born in the country and has been unfairly targeted.
Chidimma Adetshina, a 25-year-old beauty pageant contestant, maintains that she was born in South Africa and has been subjected to discriminatory treatment by authorities pursuing her deportation. Speaking after a court hearing in Cape Town this week, Adetshina stated she was born in Soweto and grew up in Cape Town, and has followed proper legal procedures to establish her citizenship status. She expressed concern that xenophobia and misinformation have influenced how she has been treated, appearing to reference anti-migrant protesters gathered outside the courthouse.
Adetshina's citizenship troubles began in 2024 when she competed in the Miss South Africa pageant, prompting scrutiny over her eligibility given her mother's Mozambican heritage and her father's Nigerian nationality. She withdrew from that competition and subsequently left South Africa, eventually winning the Miss Universe Nigeria title after receiving an invitation to participate. Her South African identity and travel documents were revoked that year following allegations that her mother had committed identity fraud to obtain South African nationality. According to BBC reporting, authorities noted that Adetshina applied for a South African visa while in Nigeria and obtained Nigerian passports for herself and her son, which the government interpreted as evidence she was not a South African citizen.
The legal proceedings against her continued when she was arrested in June 2026 after allegedly re-entering South Africa unlawfully through a Mozambican border crossing. She was subsequently released on warning. A court hearing this week postponed the government's detention case until February 2027, allowing time for her review challenging the deportation decision to be finalised. Adetshina remains free during this period. Her mother's South African citizenship was revoked in 2025.
