South African beauty queen Chidimma Adetshina has vowed to fight deportation proceedings, telling a Cape Town court this week that she was born in the country and has been unfairly targeted by authorities. The 25-year-old law student and former Miss Universe Nigeria contestant appeared in court as the Department of Home Affairs sought her detention pending removal from South Africa.
The case was postponed to February 2027 to allow for a judicial review of the department’s decision to declare her a prohibited person. Adetshina remains free until the review is finalised.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Adetshina said officials were attempting to make an example of her. “I remind everyone that I was born in South Africa. I have applied through the proper legal channels to have my status and citizenship determined,” she said. She warned against allowing “xenophobia and misinformation to determine how people are going to be treated,” referencing protesters from the anti-migrant group March and March who demonstrated outside the hearing and chased her vehicle as she departed.
The legal battle stems from 2024, when Adetshina became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant. Public scrutiny over her parentage — her mother has Mozambican roots and her father is Nigerian — prompted a Home Affairs investigation. The department subsequently stripped Adetshina of her South African identity and travel documents, alleging that her mother, Anabela Rungo, had committed identity fraud to obtain South African nationality. Rungo’s citizenship was revoked in 2025.
Under South African law, birth in the country does not automatically confer citizenship; at least one parent must be a citizen or permanent resident at the time of birth.
Adetshina withdrew from the Miss South Africa contest amid the controversy and left for Nigeria, where she was later crowned Miss Universe Nigeria. Authorities allege she subsequently applied for a South African visa while in Nigeria and travelled on Nigerian passports, returning to South Africa illegally through a Mozambican border post. She was arrested in June on charges of unlawful re-entry and released on warning.
Adetshina maintains that South Africa is her home. She was born in Soweto and raised in Cape Town. Her legal team argues that the government’s actions are politically motivated and disproportionate.
The case has drawn attention to the intersection of immigration enforcement, identity documentation, and public sentiment toward migrants in South Africa. With the matter now before the courts, the February 2027 hearing will determine whether Adetshina can remain in the country of her birth or face forced removal.
