Former Miss Universe Nigeria 2024, Chidimma Adetshina, has appeared before the Cape Town Regional Court to challenge efforts by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs to deport her.
The court hearing follows an application filed by her legal team, which argues that the deportation process is unlawful. Adetshina was arrested in June after immigration authorities alleged she was living in the country without legal status.
She is expected to present an affidavit detailing the steps she has taken to regularise her immigration status in a bid to stop her deportation.
Adetshina, who was born in Soweto to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother, withdrew from the Miss South Africa 2024 competition after questions were raised about her family’s citizenship documents. The case remains before the court.
The controversy also sparked widespread social media attacks on Adetshina because of her Nigerian heritage, in spite of the fact that she was born in South Africa and met the eligibility requirements for citizenship documentation.
