Pearl Thusi receives hate after defending Miss SA finalist Chidimma Adetshina

A video of Pearl Thusi coming out in defence of Miss South Africa finalist Chidimma Adetshina is making its rounds on X.

The 23-year-old South African-born contestant has been on the receiving end of nasty xenophobic attacks on social media since it was disclosed that her father is Nigerian.

There have even been petitions to have her removed from the Miss South Africa competition.

In the video that surfaced on Tuesday, Thusi said: "She was born and raised in South Africa, therefore she is a South African. She can’t call Nigeria home, even though her parents may be Nigerian or wherever they may be from. That is beside the point.

“If she was a white girl and she was half French, half something else, you guys might have never even noticed, but because her name is what it is now it's a big deal.

“But you guys have people in our cricket teams, in our parliament and different sectors of the South African ecosystem whose parents are not South African but they were born here, that you may know or may never know of, and this girl has to suffer because she is black, and she's female and it is a pageant?”

Pearl Thusi defends Miss SA pageant Chidimma Adetshina. pic.twitter.com/cuFt78X8S5
— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) July 30, 2024

Adetshina is South African by birth as her mother is South African, however, Thusi’s statement that if one is born and raised in South Africa, therefore they are South African is not true.

In terms of South African law, as explained by Njabulo Nzuza, the deputy minister for Home Affairs, automatic South African citizenship by birth is only given to children of South African citizens. For a child to get citizenship, one of the parents must be a South African citizen.

Children born in South Africa by parents with no legitimate status in the country, do not automatically acquire citizenship status.