Chidinma Adetshina Faces Deportation in South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs pressed ahead with deportation proceedings against Chidinma Adetshina, a former Miss Universe Nigeria 2024 contestant, in a South African court. Chidinma Adetshina was arrested in Cape Town for allegedly residing in the country unlawfully.

She had appeared before the Cape Town Regional Court following her arrest in Summer Greens, and the court released her on a warning. The latest court proceedings followed an earlier decision by Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber, who dismissed Ms Adetshina's application for a review of the department's refusal to grant her and her son a letter of good cause.

By rejecting the review application, the minister upheld the department's earlier decision. In his written submission, Mr Schreiber said Ms Adetshina had been informed in September 2024 that the department intended to cancel both her South African identity documents and those issued to her son. He added that Ms Adetshina secured a Nigerian passport while in Nigeria before later applying for a South African visitor's visa.

Mr Schreiber also said Ms Adetshina was declared a prohibited person on 19 December 2024. He further alleged that she later re-entered South Africa from Mozambique through the Lebombo border post while claiming to be a South African citizen. The minister also turned down the immigration application submitted on behalf of Ms Adetshina's son.

She submitted an affidavit outlining the steps she has taken to regularise her immigration status, as she fights to avoid deportation. The deportation case emerged barely two years after her Nigerian heritage triggered fierce public scrutiny and backlash following her entry into the Miss South Africa 2024 pageant.

Born in Soweto to a Nigerian Igbo father and a Mozambican mother, Ms Adetshina had progressed to the Top 30 of the Miss SA competition before the backlash intensified. Miss Universe Nigeria organisers subsequently invited her to represent Taraba State, and she went on to win the title, flying Nigeria's flag at the Miss Universe 2024 pageant in Mexico.

Ms Adetshina appeared before the court after immigration officer Adrian Jackson submitted documents showing that the Department of Home Affairs' Central Law Enforcement Unit had tracked her location. According to Mr Jackson, she and her young son had been living in South Africa without valid immigration documentation.

Mr Jackson asked the court to authorise Ms Adetshina's continued detention, arguing that it would allow the Department of Home Affairs to fulfil its legal duty of deporting people found to be unlawfully residing in South Africa.