A beauty queen forced out of the Miss South Africa contest by racist trolls attacking her Nigerian roots is now fighting attempts to deport her and her young son from the country where she was born and raised.
Miss Universe runner-up Chidimma Adetshina, 25, was targeted after reaching the final 16 of the national pageant, as anger towards immigrants from other African countries increasingly spilled into public protests and online abuse.
The backlash led officials to investigate her South African citizenship documents and ultimately declare her a prohibited person after uncovering alleged identity fraud involving her Mozambican-born mother.
Adetshina has now returned to the Cape Town Regional Court, where South Africa's Department of Home Affairs is seeking approval to detain her while it pursues her deportation.
Officials argue that Adetshina and her minor son are living in South Africa without lawful immigration status and say the Nigerian passports they obtained show they have another country where they can legally live.
But Adetshina insists South Africa is the only home she has ever known and is challenging the government's decision to classify her as a prohibited person.
She was born in Soweto, South Africa, in 2001 to a Nigerian father and a mother originally from Mozambique, and was raised and educated in the country.
Her troubles began after she reached the top 16 of the Miss South Africa 2024 competition and social media users began questioning whether she was entitled to represent the country because of her family background.
The row rapidly developed into a hostile campaign focused on her Nigerian surname and ancestry, amid wider resentment towards migrants from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African countries.
The controversy prompted the Department of Home Affairs to investigate documents linked to Adetshina and her mother, Anabela Rungo.
Home Affairs later said it had uncovered initial evidence of fraud and identity theft involving documentation allegedly used by Rungo when Adetshina's birth was registered.
Officials stressed that Adetshina had been a baby at the time and was not accused of participating in any wrongdoing.
Rungo was later arrested and faced separate proceedings over allegations involving fraudulent identity documents and her continued presence in South Africa after she had been declared an undesirable person.
Amid the mounting hostility and concerns for her family's safety, Adetshina withdrew from Miss South Africa in August 2024.
She was subsequently invited to compete in Miss Universe Nigeria, won the national title and went on to finish as first runner-up in the Miss Universe contest in Mexico.
But her South African identity documents were later withdrawn and she was declared a prohibited person on 19th December 2024.
Adetshina was arrested in Cape Town in June after immigration officials accused her of re-entering South Africa through the Lebombo border crossing with Mozambique despite restrictions on her entry.
She was released on a warning while the Department of Home Affairs continued efforts to detain and deport her.
During the latest hearing, Home Affairs argued that Adetshina had obtained Nigerian passports for herself and her son and had travelled to Nigeria during her pageant campaign.
Officials said this demonstrated that Nigeria was a country where both could legally live.
Her lawyer, Advocate Giles Barclay-Beuthin, rejected the argument that she should simply be treated as a foreign national, saying she had spent her entire life in South Africa.
He told the court: "Her accent is South African. She was born here in 2001, her mother is under house arrest here and her father is a permanent citizen. This is her home."
Barclay-Beuthin described her arrest following her return through Mozambique as an "ambush".
He said she had already applied to have her prohibited-person status lifted and was attempting to resolve her position through the courts when she returned.
The lawyer argued that Home Affairs had failed to show that she was a flight risk, pointing out that she was a high-profile public figure who could not easily disappear.
He said she was willing to surrender her South African passport and asked the court to allow her to remain free while the Western Cape High Court reviews the decision to classify her as a prohibited person.
Home Affairs lawyer Motlalepule Ranto countered that Adetshina had previously re-entered South Africa in 2025 despite being placed on a visa-restricted list.
Ranto urged the magistrate not to make any decision that would pre-empt the outcome of the separate High Court proceedings.
The case also involves Adetshina's young son, whose welfare is being monitored by the Department of Social Development and the SAPS Child Protection Unit.
Anti-immigration demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse demanding that she be deported.
The protests come amid growing hostility towards migrants from elsewhere in Africa, with campaigners demanding tougher border controls and the removal of people living in South Africa without legal status.
Magistrate Reema Khorana reserved judgment on whether Adetshina should be detained pending deportation until 19th August.
After the hearing, Adetshina wrote on social media: "Exhausted - yes. Burnt out - yes. Depressed - yes. Will I give up? No! We no dey carry last. See you next month."
No final decision has been made on whether Adetshina or her son will be deported.
(Marija Stojkoska/Newsflash)
