Soweto’s 23-year-old Miss South Africa hopeful, Chidimma Adetshina, has caused quite the stir on social media after she made it to the top 16 of the beauty pageant.
The Miss SA organizers announced the top 16 for this year’s pageant on Monday, with Adetshina’s name standing out due to her Nigerian roots.
She is understood to have been born in South Africa to Nigerian parents.
Adetshina’s biography on the Miss SA website says she is a model from Soweto, netball player and a Varsity College law student who is passionate about sports and advocating for change on violence against woman and children and gender-based violence.
In a Miss SA video, she reveals she is a Cape Town-based model who describes herself as ambitious, confident and optimistic, living with the motto “dreams are valid when actions are taken.”
Some social media users were not happy about her inclusion in the pageant, questioning if she was South African and wanted her to be kicked out.
One X user commented: “Is Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina South African? Because it sounds so Nigerian. What is the criteria when joining Miss SA??? Or she's half Nigerian and half South African because ey nina”.
Another X user said, “A South African that goes by the name of Chidimma Onwe Adetshina? But I understand there are South Africans who live in England and have become citizens there…”.
“Chidimma Onwe Adetshina she’s not South African, why is she on the list of Miss South Africa 2024?” an X user commented.
But what does it mean to be South African?
According to the South African Citizenship Act (Act No. 88 of 1995) you automatically qualify for citizenship if you are born in South Africa and at least one of your parents is a South African citizen or a South African permanent residency holder.
Or if you are adopted by a South African citizen.
Miss SA 2001, Vanessa Carreira Coutroulis, incidentally the year Adetshani was born, took the Miss South Africa crown in 2001 and was placed second runner-up at the Miss Universe competition. She became Miss SA despite being born by an Portuguese-Angolan parents.
She is currently a guest judge on this season’s Miss SA.
In an e-mailed response to IOL, Miss SA organisers said their qualifying criteria was that hopefuls had to be a South African citizen, be in possession of a valid SA ID or passport and if an applicant had dual citizenship, they had to provide both documents.
”All documentation provided by the entrants is screened and vetted by the Miss South Africa Organisation,” they said.
For now, Adetshani is chasing her crown and is determined to become the next Miss South Africa.
IOL