Chidimma Adetshina saga: Nigerian beauty queen fights to stay in South Africa amid increasing calls for her deportation
By Steve Ireri, August 20, 2026Nigerian beauty queen Chidimma Adetshina is fighting to remain in South Africa amid renewed calls for her deportation, with the former Miss Universe Nigeria speaking out after her latest appearance in the country’s ongoing immigration dispute.
Adetshina spoke to journalists on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, after proceedings at the Cape Town Regional Court, where her deportation case was postponed to February 2027.
The beauty queen, who has been at the centre of a nationality dispute since her dramatic withdrawal from the Miss South Africa pageant in 2024, said she believed she had been unfairly targeted and that authorities were attempting to use her case to make an example.
“I believe that I have been treated unfairly and targeted. And there has been an attempt to make me an example,” Adetshina said.
She maintained that she was born in South Africa and said she was pursuing the matter through the appropriate legal channels rather than allowing the controversy surrounding her nationality to determine her fate.
“I was born here. I have been here my entire life,” she said, reiterating her long-standing position that South Africa is the country where she was born and raised.
Adetshina also appealed for the dispute to be handled through the proper legal processes, rather than through public pressure and what she described as misinformation surrounding her case.
Her comments came as tensions surrounding the beauty queen’s immigration status spilled beyond the courtroom, with anti-immigration protesters gathering outside the Cape Town Regional Court and demanding that she leave South Africa.
Videos from the scene have since gone viral, showing protesters confronting Adetshina as she left the court proceedings.
Some of those gathered were heard shouting at her to return to Nigeria, while others accused her of stealing a South African identity.
The scenes have once again thrust Adetshina into the centre of South Africa’s highly charged debate over immigration and foreigners, reviving the xenophobic backlash that first followed her entry into the Miss South Africa competition.
How the saga began
Adetshina’s troubles began in 2024 when she emerged as a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant.
Although born in South Africa, she became the target of fierce online criticism over her Nigerian father and Mozambican mother, with some questioning whether she was sufficiently South African to compete for the country’s most prominent beauty title.
The backlash eventually prompted the Department of Home Affairs to investigate her identity and citizenship documents.
The department later said its investigation had found prima facie evidence of identity fraud and theft involving her mother, Anabela Rungo.
Home Affairs, however, acknowledged that Adetshina herself could not have participated in the alleged fraud because she was a baby when the disputed documents were obtained.
The controversy nevertheless made Adetshina’s nationality a subject of intense national debate.
As the pressure mounted, Adetshina withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition, saying she needed to protect herself and her family.
Her departure from the competition did not end her beauty-pageant journey.
She was subsequently invited to compete in Miss Universe Nigeria 2024, where she won the crown and went on to represent Nigeria at the Miss Universe competition.
She finished as the first runner-up, giving her international profile an unexpected boost after the controversy that had forced her out of the South African pageant.
But while her beauty-pageant career moved forward, the dispute over her South African status continued.
Adetshina’s mother
Adetshina’s mother, Anabela Rungo, has separately faced immigration problems after South African authorities questioned the validity of her citizenship.
Rungo has been accused by authorities of obtaining South African nationality through fraudulent means, allegations that have had consequences for both her own immigration status and the wider controversy surrounding her daughter.
The allegations against her mother are central to the dispute because the investigation into the family’s documents is what ultimately brought Adetshina’s own nationality under renewed scrutiny.