The withdrawal of a contestant from the Miss South Africa pageant has recently highlighted the complex dynamics of this country regarding identity, race and immigration, 30 years after the end of the racist regime of apartheid.
Chidimma Adetshina, 23, has been causing controversy in South Africa for weeks after it was revealed that her father is Nigerian and her mother is of Mozambican origin. Some South Africans believed that she should not represent the country internationally, since the rules of the contest establish that candidates for the title must have South African citizenship. To obtain it, it is necessary to have been born in this country and that at least one of their parents is a South African citizen or permanent resident. But the debates were mixed on social networks with insults such as “makwerekwere”, a derogatory way of referring to foreigners. The tone rose when rumours began to circulate that Adetshina’s mother allegedly has false documentation, prompting the Patriotic Alliance, the party led by Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, to announce this week that it would take legal action against her.
The Ministry of Home Affairs launched an investigation on Monday, at the request of the organizers of Miss South Africa, to verify the nationality of its candidate. miss. Two days later, the court announced that “prima facie” there was reason to believe that Adetshina’s mother had committed “fraud and identity theft” crimes, which complicates the model’s legal situation. Shortly after, the model announced in a post on her Instagram account that she was withdrawing from the Miss South Africa pageant. “I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the competition for the safety and well-being of my family and myself,” read the statement on Thursday.
The controversy over Adetshina’s nationality has been mixed with latent racism towards darker-skinned South Africans, sometimes from other black citizens (in a country where the white population is around 7%). Adetshina, who has remained silent in recent weeks, gave an interview to the South African media Sowetan Livein mid-July, when criticism was already starting to emerge: “I don’t feel like I’m getting the love from the people I represent,” she complained at the time. “I feel like it’s all about black hate, as I’m not the only one in this competition who has a non-South African surname. I feel like the focus is on me because of the colour of my skin.”
“The attacks on Chidimma Adetshina did not stem from questions about her eligibility as a citizen, but from her appearance, her alleged foreignness, the ethnicity of her parents,” said Michael Morris, spokesman for the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) in South Africa by email. Dr. Nombuelo Shange, a sociologist at the University of Free State, emphasizes the racial aspect of this controversy: “There is still a mentality of apartheid“That blackness is ugly, inferior, bad. Even black people have assimilated it.” Adetshina’s dark skin tone puts her in a special spotlight, she says in a video call. “In a beauty pageant, people who have been conditioned to think their own skin is ugly, are outraged: ‘How dare this womanto be so self-confident?”
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Hostility towards migrants
South Africa is experiencing growing hostility towards immigrants (2.4 million in a country of 60 million people, although unofficial figures are probably higher), say experts such as Shange. Especially if these migrants are not white. “Other African nationals are being used as scapegoats for the difficulties the country is experiencing, which is a mistaken view,” stresses the sociologist.
In one of the most unequal countries in the world, 32.6% of citizens are out of work, according to the 2023 national employment survey, and this does not include those who have stopped looking (the rate thus rises to 44.1%). “Eighty percent of people survive on only 20% of the resources, the rich hoard land and there is no social mobility possible. As black Africans, we fight among ourselves for scarce resources, and this ends up producing frustration,” adds Shange.
South Africa has seen a surge in xenophobia in recent years, with incidents often involving members of the so-called Operation Dudula, a violent group that raids businesses owned by foreign nationals. The number of foreigners living in South Africa has grown from just over a million in 1996 to 2.4 million in 2022, according to the South African Human Sciences Research Council.
Ayanda Sishi-Wigzell, a political analyst and journalist, recalls experiencing first-hand the racism that sometimes flares up in South Africa, when at 17 she was questioned on the street by the police, who asked her in Zulu “how to say ‘elbow’”, a common technique for discoverto foreigners. “There is a Afrophobia“There is a deep-seated hatred towards other people who are also black, but not South Africans (…) which seems to be connected to a certain sense of superiority because our country has infrastructures that others do not have,” Sishi-Wigzell said by phone. “This has created a perception in some people that [los migrantes, refugiados y solicitantes de asilo] “They come to take away our resources.” She blames social media in particular for fuelling hate speech. “As social media use increases, disinformation grows in national languages, not just in English.” And disinformation eventually moves to harder-to-monitor sites, such as WhatsApp groups.
Adetshina’s exit from the beauty pageant seems to prove right those who have recently given free rein to xenophobia, such as the account on X which, after learning of the alleged identity theft of the model’s mother, stated: “Nigerians are terrible citizens in any country, and they always end up proving us right.” “Chauvinists and xenophobes will feel justified, and the cause of narrow-minded nationalism will seem stronger.” [con el abandono de Chidimma Adetshina de Miss Sudáfrica]“We are not a racist country, we are hospitable, but hateful voices are heard more often,” laments Michael Morris of the South African Institute of Race Relations. Shange adds: “We are not a racist country, we are hospitable, but hateful voices are heard more often.”
In the face of the avalanche of hate against Adetshina and immigrants, a young TikTok user proclaimed last week: “I want to tell all Africans that we are not all like this.” [en Sudáfrica]”. On Wednesday, after the South African Ministry of the Interior announced the investigation into the issue of the young woman’s nationality, the subject was taken up again: “Are you happy now that you have ruined this girl’s life? Is this going to bring you more work, more land, is it going to make your communities safer?”
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