Chidimma in court: Miss Nigeria Universe fights to stay in SA

· The South African

Former Miss Nigeria Universe  Chidimma Adetshina – also a former finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant – is doubling down on her efforts to block the Department of Home Affairs’s bid to deport her and her minor son.

The beauty queen appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Thursday, 16 July, alongside her parents – Mozambican mother Anabelo Rungo and Nigerian father, Michael Adetshina. Rungo is facing separate criminal charges of identity fraud under which she registered her daughter’s birth in South Africa.

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Chidimma, declared a prohibited person by the department in December 2024, was arrested in Cape Town last month by immigration officials after illegally entering the country.

CHIDIMMA ADETSHINA APPEARS IN COURT, OPPOSES DEPORTATION

On Thursday afternoon, Chidimma Adetshina made a brief appearance at the Cape Town Magistrates’ court.

The 25-year-old is opposing the Department of Home Affairs’s bid to deport her and her minor son to Nigeria. This follows her arrest last month after immigration officials found that she had illegally entered and had been residing in South Africa. 

During her court appearance, Chidimma was required to submit an affidavit outlining her steps to regularise her immigration status.

In 2024, Chidimma Adetshina withdrew from the Miss SA competition and competed in Miss Universe Nigeria, which she won just weeks later. She also placed as a runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant that year. After winning the pageants, Chidimma spent time in Nigeria, her father’s birthplace. She was issued Nigerian documentation after her South African ID and passport was declared invalid by Home Affairs.

According to Minister Leon Schreiber, she was notified about the proceedings but failed to respond to the department’s notice.

Whilst in Nigeria, Chidimma applied for a South African visitor’s visa to return to her home in Cape Town. However, this was rejected as it was found that she had submitted a fraudulent bank statement.

As a result, Chidimma was declared a prohibited person. Despite this, she entered South Africa illegally at the Lebombo border post from Mozambique, presenting herself as a South African citizen.

She applied for a letter of good cause, which was also rejected.

Chidimma’s son’s immigration application was also rejected as his legal status was “inextricably linked to hers,” the minister added.

WHY IS SHE NOT CONSIDERED SOUTH AFRICAN?

Although Chidimma Adetshina was born in Soweto in 2001, South Africa does not grant unconditional birthright citizenship under the South African Citizenship Act of 1995.

Neither of her parents, Mozambican mother Anabelo Rungo nor Nigerian father Michael Adetshina, is a South African citizen or held permanent residency at the time of her birth.

In 2024, an investigation by the Department of Home Affairs discovered prima facie evidence that suggested that Chidimma’s mother had committed identity theft and had registered her birth in South Africa by using fraudulent documents.

A year later, Rungo was arrested and charged with contravening the Immigration Act and the Identification Act.

By default, due to her relationship with her mother, both women and Chidimma’s son, born to a Nigerian foreign national, were stripped of their South African IDs and passports.

According to legal experts, Chidimma could find a pathway to remain in South Africa under the Citizenship Act, which states that children born to foreign nationals without permanent residency may apply for citizenship at age 18, provided they can prove they have lived in the country continuously since birth.

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