Chidinma Adetshina to be Stripped off South African ID and Travel Documents (DETAILS)

Beauty queen Chidinma Adetshina, embroiled in a heated nationality dispute, is set to lose her South African identity and travel documents. The Department of Home Affairs announced to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that it would withdraw her ID papers.

Tommy Makhode, the department’s director-general, stated that both Ms. Adetshina and her mother missed a deadline on Monday to provide reasons for retaining their documents. Consequently, the department decided to cancel their ID papers.

Neither Ms. Adetshina nor her mother has responded to the decision.

According to Makhode, the case has been handed over to the Hawks, South Africa’s special unit for investigating serious crimes, which has deemed it a “case of fraud.” Authorities are awaiting further direction from prosecutors.

The Department of Home Affairs began investigating Ms. Adetshina’s nationality after she became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant, sparking controversy over her eligibility due to her Mozambican mother and Nigerian father. Ms. Adetshina previously asserted that she was born in Soweto, South Africa.

Following her victory at the Miss Universe Nigeria pageant, Ms. Adetshina stated in an interview with the BBC that she considers herself both “proudly South African” and “proudly Nigerian.”

Ms. Adetshina recently arrived in Mexico to represent Nigeria in the Miss Universe competition scheduled for November 16. She will compete against global contestants, including Mia le Roux, the current Miss South Africa.

Ms. Adetshina withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August after the Department of Home Affairs announced concerns over potential “identity theft” by her mother in acquiring South African nationality.