‘I was born in South Africa’, says beauty queen facing legal bid to deport her

Beauty queen Chidimma Adetshina, who faces deportation from South Africa, maintains that she was born in the country and feels she has been treated unfairly and targeted. South African authorities are pursuing her deportation after she was deemed a prohibited person in 2024. Adetshina, 25, has Mozambican roots through her mother and Nigerian heritage from her father.

She lost her identity documents after her citizenship was questioned during her participation in the 2024 Miss South Africa contest. She subsequently left the country. Adetshina was arrested in June for allegedly entering South Africa illegally and was released on warning. The government's legal case seeking her confinement was postponed until 2027.

While at the Cape Town court, Adetshina stated that authorities were making an example of her and urged against allowing xenophobia and misinformation to dictate how people are treated. A protest against her deportation, led by anti-migrant group March and March, gathered outside the courthouse, chasing her car as she left. Adetshina, a law student at the time, had left South Africa in 2024 and later won Miss Universe Nigeria.

South African officials claimed that she applied for a South African visa while in Nigeria and used Nigerian passports for herself and her son, implying that she was not a South African citizen. They also argued that she entered South Africa illegally through a Mozambican border post. Adetshina maintains that her home was in South Africa.

Her case was delayed until February 2027 to finalize her appeal against the deportation decision. She remains free until this appeal is concluded. Being born in South Africa does not automatically confer citizenship; one parent must either be a citizen or a permanent resident. Adetshina's mother, Anabela Rungo, had her South African citizenship revoked in 2025.

Her status came under scrutiny after she became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant, with critics questioning her eligibility due to her mother's Mozambican ties and her father being a Nigerian citizen. Adetshina later withdrew from the pageant after these concerns surfaced. She has stated that she was born in Soweto, a township adjacent to Johannesburg, and raised in Cape Town.