The heritage of an entrant for Miss South Africa 2024 contest has sparked a huge row within the South African public. Detractors are questioning the South African identity of Chidinma Vanessa Adetshina whose father is a Nigerian while her mother has a mix of South African and Mozambican parentage.

They are questioning the eligibility of Chidimma for the contest in which she has advanced to the top 30 despite being born at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and raised in South Africa. Her detractors insist that she cannot be suitable as the country’s ambassador under any guise because her parents are not full blooded South Africans.

The foregoing is in spite of Chidimma’s declaration that her mother was born and raised in South Africa. ”My dad is a proud Nigerian and my mother was born and raised in South Africa but has roots in Mozambique. My mum’s family still lives in Soweto and I visit them from time to time,” she told a South African magazine, Sowetan SMag.

The organizers of the competition had required that all entrants must hold South African citizenship and exemplary standards of behavior.

”Miss South Africa entrants must be South African citizens and in possession of a valid South African ID document or passport. If an applicant holds dual citizenship, they must provide details of both on the entry form.

”By entering to compete for the title of Miss South Africa 2024, you will be required to consent to, and authorise the Miss South Africa Organisation, doing a psychological wellbeing assessment, including resilience testing, background checks to verify information provided in your entry form and confirmation you are an upstanding citizen worthy of representing the country,” the organisers stated.

Expressing how much her spirit was dampened by the new developments, Chidimma said she was very excited when she entered the contest and did not anticipate the wave of skepticism regarding her heritage.

She said: I was so excited to enter Miss South Africa and did not think that far as to what the public would think.

“Once I got to the top 16, that was when I felt it. People on X were asking why I’m competing because I’m not South African. They questioned my nationality along with my parents.

At first I ignored it. But as I progressed in the competition, the criticism started growing until I thought to myself: ‘I’m representing a country but I don’t feel the love from the people I’m representing.

“I even asked myself is it worth it? I feel all this is black-on-black hate, as I’m not the only one in this competition who has a surname that’s not South African.

“I feel the attention is on me because of my skin colour, which I think is a disadvantage. It’s also been something I had to overcome growing up.”

Further expressing her frustration, she said: “You try so hard to represent your country and wear it with so much pride but all these people are not in support of you. I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t know what to say or what not to say because this is such a sensitive topic.

“I don’t want to say something and then offend people. I’m at a point where I don’t know whether I should keep quiet or set the records straight, because there is a lot that is being misconstrued.

“To me, I see this as an opportunity where I can educate people. I just need to see how I go about it.

Chidimma, a Law student, model and netball player, would not be the first whose entry into the Miss South Africa contest would provoke such interest from the South African public. The entry of a model, Sherry Wang, earlier in the year had also sparked a wave of controversy.

She would also not be the first to make it into the competition in spite of her parents’ origin. Carreira Coutroulis took the Miss South Africa crown in 2001. She won the crown despite being born to Portuguese-Angolan parents and also placed second runner-up at the Miss Universe competition.

Concerned members of the public are of the view that Chidimma’s rejection by some members of the public smacks of xenophobia; a malaise that South Africa has battled with for years. Yet she is determined to win the crown at the grand finale in a few days, having failed to make it to the final stage of the competition last year.

“I’ve always envisioned a dream to be on Miss South Africa since 2017, and here I am achieving that goal,” she said.

“To me, being a finalist is as if I’m rewriting my mother’s dream of becoming a model. Her father didn’t allow her to do anything related to modeling, so I feel like I’m living her life, which feels like a beautiful dream come true.

”My journey so far has been wonderful but it’s been a lot of hard work. I wanted to come back because I wanted a different story.

“Shooting our reality series, Crown Chasers, has helped me as well as other finalists to see what a Miss SA job is and what it requires.”

The recently divorced mother of one-year-old baby boy also said her life in the last one year has been a reflection of who he is as a person.

She said: “I got divorced in February. We were not compatible because he had this ideology what an African married woman is. I didn’t want to be in a position where I can’t go out but had to clean and cook… that was not just for me because as a society, we are way past that phase.

“My parents have been very supportive and although my marriage robbed me from enjoying the beauty of pregnancy and being a wife, overall it brings me joy that I get to take new steps with my son.

“I didn’t think I’d be a mom at my age as he was conceived out of wedlock, but I’m glad to have him.

“At the beginning of the year, I was so depressed and worried about how life was going to turn out for me, but getting this far in the competition made me believe there was more in store for me.”

Reprieve appeared to have come the way of Chidimma with the Miss South Africa organization coming stoutly to her defence, declaring her a bona fide South African in spite of her Nigerian roots.

“Chidimma is a South African,” the organization told The South African.

“She has met all the requirements to be a part of the Miss South Africa competition.

“Her mother is South African (Zulu) and her father is Nigerian.”

The organization said one of their qualifying criteria was that hopefuls had to be a South African citizen. They also have to be in possession of valid South African ID or passport, and if an applicant had dual citizenship, they had to provide both documents.

“All documentation provided by the entrants is screened and vetted by the Miss South Africa Organisation,” it added.