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By Anita Dangazele
- Home Affairs has confirmed Adetshina was a child when the alleged identity fraud in her family took place, and could not have been involved.
- A South African woman whose identity was allegedly stolen to register Adetshina’s birth has not been named or reported on in this case.
Claim: She’s being punished simply for having a Nigerian father. Adetshina’s father, Michael Adetshina, is a Nigerian national with permanent residency in South Africa. The case against her family centres on her mother, Anabela Rungo, a Mozambican national accused of stealing a South African woman’s identity in 2001 to fraudulently obtain South African identity documents. Those documents were allegedly used to register Chidimma’s birth as though she were a South African citizen.
Claim: Chidimma herself committed the original fraud. Home Affairs has stated that Adetshina was a child at the time and could not have been involved in any alleged wrongdoing from 2001. She faces a separate, more recent allegation: that she re-entered South Africa illegally last month through the Lebombo border post with Mozambique, after her South African documents had already been cancelled in December 2024. Her mother has since been arrested in connection with the fraud allegations and granted R10,000 bail.
Claim: Being born in South Africa automatically makes someone a citizen. South African law does not grant citizenship based on birth alone. Adetshina was treated as a citizen because of documents obtained through her mother’s alleged fraud. Once Home Affairs investigated and found prima facie evidence of that fraud in 2024, both her and her mother’s South African documents were revoked.
Claim: There is no other party affected by this case. A South African woman had her identity allegedly stolen in 2001, and was reportedly unable to register her own child under her own name as a result. She has not been named in reporting on this case, and Home Affairs has not stated what action, if any, has been taken to assist her.
What’s happening now: Adetshina’s deportation case was adjourned in the Cape Town Regional Court this week, after a separate Western Cape High Court ruling found that magistrates do not have the power to issue warrants of arrest for immigration detention, that power rests only with immigration officers. This affected Home Affairs’ bid to detain Adetshina, and both sides have been given time to find a way forward. Her legal team has argued that alternatives to detention were not properly considered before Home Affairs approached the court.
Pictured above: Former Miss Universe Nigeria, Chidimma Adetshina, fights to remain in South Africa.
Image source: File
