BEAUTY CONTEST SPARKS ROW OVER WHO COUNTS AS SOUTH AFRICAN
BBC- When law student Chidimma Adetshina clinched a coveted spot as a Miss South Africa finalist, her triumph unleashed a vicious backlash, unearthing a seam of xenophobia that lies close to the surface for some in the country.
The 23-year-old’s name hints at her connection to Nigeria, but internet detectives wanted to know more and combed through every inch of her life.
They found that her father is Nigerian and though her mother is South African, her family had come from neighbouring Mozambique.
“On behalf of South Africans, we don’t recognise her and that name! She better start packing and go home,” raged one commenter on X.
But where is home? Ms Adetshina is South African, as verified by the organisers of the pageant. She has said in interviews that she was born in Soweto – the township next to Johannesburg – and grew up in Cape Town.
However, the “go-home” sentiment, and even harsher attacks, flooded social media. There was also a petition demanding her removal from the high-profile televised competition that amassed more than 14,000 signatures before it was taken down.
Ms Adetshina declined a BBC request for an interview but she did tell the Sowetan Live news site that the online hate she was facing made her think twice about competing.
“I am representing a country, but I don’t feel the love from the people I’m representing,” she said.
Ms Adetshina added that the whole situation felt like “black-on-black hate”, highlighting a particular strain of xenophobia in South Africa known as “afrophobia”, which targets other Africans.
She felt that she was not the only contestant among the last 16 women with a name that had origins from beyond the country’s shores – there are some with South Asian and European names – yet she was receiving the bulk of the criticism.
BBC- When law student Chidimma Adetshina clinched a coveted spot as a Miss South Africa finalist, her triumph unleashed a vicious backlash, unearthing a seam of xenophobia that lies close to the surface for some in the country.
The 23-year-old’s name hints at her connection to Nigeria, but internet detectives wanted to know more and combed through every inch of her life.
They found that her father is Nigerian and though her mother is South African, her family had come from neighbouring Mozambique.
“On behalf of South Africans, we don’t recognise her and that name! She better start packing and go home,” raged one commenter on X.
But where is home? Ms Adetshina is South African, as verified by the organisers of the pageant. She has said in interviews that she was born in Soweto – the township next to Johannesburg – and grew up in Cape Town.
However, the “go-home” sentiment, and even harsher attacks, flooded social media. There was also a petition demanding her removal from the high-profile televised competition that amassed more than 14,000 signatures before it was taken down.
Ms Adetshina declined a BBC request for an interview but she did tell the Sowetan Live news site that the online hate she was facing made her think twice about competing.
“I am representing a country, but I don’t feel the love from the people I’m representing,” she said.
Ms Adetshina added that the whole situation felt like “black-on-black hate”, highlighting a particular strain of xenophobia in South Africa known as “afrophobia”, which targets other Africans.
She felt that she was not the only contestant among the last 16 women with a name that had origins from beyond the country’s shores – there are some with South Asian and European names – yet she was receiving the bulk of the criticism.
BEAUTY CONTEST SPARKS ROW OVER WHO COUNTS AS SOUTH AFRICAN
BBC- When law student Chidimma Adetshina clinched a coveted spot as a Miss South Africa finalist, her triumph unleashed a vicious backlash, unearthing a seam of xenophobia that lies close to the surface for some in the country.
The 23-year-old’s name hints at her connection to Nigeria, but internet detectives wanted to know more and combed through every inch of her life.
They found that her father is Nigerian and though her mother is South African, her family had come from neighbouring Mozambique.
“On behalf of South Africans, we don’t recognise her and that name! She better start packing and go home,” raged one commenter on X.
But where is home? Ms Adetshina is South African, as verified by the organisers of the pageant. She has said in interviews that she was born in Soweto – the township next to Johannesburg – and grew up in Cape Town.
However, the “go-home” sentiment, and even harsher attacks, flooded social media. There was also a petition demanding her removal from the high-profile televised competition that amassed more than 14,000 signatures before it was taken down.
Ms Adetshina declined a BBC request for an interview but she did tell the Sowetan Live news site that the online hate she was facing made her think twice about competing.
“I am representing a country, but I don’t feel the love from the people I’m representing,” she said.
Ms Adetshina added that the whole situation felt like “black-on-black hate”, highlighting a particular strain of xenophobia in South Africa known as “afrophobia”, which targets other Africans.
She felt that she was not the only contestant among the last 16 women with a name that had origins from beyond the country’s shores – there are some with South Asian and European names – yet she was receiving the bulk of the criticism.