Miss Chidinma Adetshina Finds the Hope She Lost to Xenophobia in Nigeria

Xenophobia, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, can be defined as the “fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign”. It is the stereotyping of people from other cultures or countries, involving hostility towards these set of people, which results in unequal treatments or denial of opportunities for the victims. This was the fate of Miss Chidinma Adetshina, a South African, who was forced to withdraw from the Miss South Africa Pageant, being targeted for a xenophobic backlash. The 23-year-old was born in Soweto, South Africa, to a Nigerian father and a South African mother of Mozambican decent. The South Africa Citizenship Act clearly states that anyone born in South Africa atleast a South African parent is a South African, thus, qualifying Chidinma to be an indigene. However, some of the citizens of South Africa reacted otherwise. The led to the Department of Home Affairs conducting an investigation on Chidinma’s root, where a statement was released alleging that her mother has stolen the identity of a South African woman with no evidence to back up their claims. Chidinma, after seeing the escalation of the case, forcefully decided to withdraw from the competition to avoid further issues for her family on 8th of August, 2024.

Moving on from that event, Miss Adetshina received a letter from Miss Universe Nigeria, a national beauty pageant organised by Silverbird Productions, founded by Mr Guy Murray-Bruce. The letter was directed to Miss Adetshina, inviting her to join the Miss Universe Nigeria pageant, specifically stating that her “journey in the world of pageantry is far from over”. The letter added that the platform will make Miss Adetshina “represent her father’s native land on the international stage” as the competition offers the winner the chance to represent Nigeria at the 73rd Miss Universe in Mexico on the 16th of November, later this year.. On Wednesday 14th of August, the CEO of Silverbird, Mr Guy Murray-Bruce publicly announced that Miss Adetshina agreed to join the Miss Universe Nigeria pageant. He added that being from Enugu State, she would represent Taraba state to avoid Tribalism. Also, he mentioned that she received no preferential treatments, and underwent the same screening process as other contestants. Strict rules in the camp are to be duly followed by all 25 contestants and this is what will be done, he added.

Although, some South Africans are in total support of Miss Adetshina leaving the competition, some others found it unfair and sympathized with her. One of these people is Ms Le Roux, the 28-year-old woman, who made history by being the first deaf winner in Miss South Africa’s 66-year history. She was crowned on Saturday night at the Sun Bet Arena in Pretoria. She had an interview with South Africa’s news TV channel, Newzroom Afrika, where she reacted to the issues surrounding Miss Adetshina’s withdrawal from the pageant. She said “I stand for unity. I do not stand for people being divided. So, I do think we can do better in that aspect to support and include one another. Because she was excluded, and that is not okay.” She added, “It was extremely hard for us because each of us personally knows and loves Chichi. We truly believe that she did not deserve the hate, as we know she is phenomenal, powerful, and beautiful in her own right. She deserved her spot on Miss South Africa’’.

In sum, xenophobia is not a practice to be welcomed by anyone. Putting one’s self in the victim’s shoes will make one understand better. We can only hope that the South Africans in support of Miss Adetshina’s withdrawal understand better and that such does not repeat itself in future encounters. And to the world at large, say no to Xenophobia!