South African media reported in June that the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA), in cooperation with the police, arrested Chidimma Adetshina (25 years old) and her young son, who was less than 3 years old, in Cape Town, South Africa.
The beauty queen is accused of falsifying her nationality to illegally cross the border through Lebombo (bordering Mozambique) to re-enter South Africa. Prior to this, she had been placed on the South African government's blacklist, which had been in effect since the end of 2024.
On June 9th, Chidimma Adetshina appeared in court at the Cape Town District Court. She is currently out on bail under strict house arrest (not permitted to leave her residence) pending her next court appearance in July for deportation proceedings. Her mother was also arrested at a nearby hideout for illegal residency.
In 2025, the BBC reported that Anabela Rungo (mother of Chidimma Adetshina) had been arrested at her home in Cape Town by the South African Department of Home Affairs in cooperation with the South African Police.
The Home Office stated that it revoked Ms. Rungo's documents in South Africa in September 2024 after discovering that she had committed fraud. According to the Home Office, this means Ms. Rungo is no longer eligible to live in South Africa.
"In a blatant disregard for legal consequences, Ms. Rungo appears to have defied her undesirable status through a Mozambican passport. Investigations are ongoing to learn more about this fraudulent activity," the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
The arrest of Chidimma Adetshina and her mother is causing a stir on beauty pageant forums. Previously, she had won the title of First Runner-up at Miss Universe 2024 for Nigeria.
Chidimma was born and raised in South Africa, with a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother. In 2024, she competed in the Miss South Africa pageant and reached the finals. However, a boycott erupted online due to doubts about her ancestry.
The South African Home Office launched an investigation and discovered that Chidimma's mother had stolen the identity of a legitimate South African woman to create fake documents for her daughter since Chidimma was an infant.
After the scandal broke, Chidimma had to withdraw from the Miss South Africa pageant. In October 2024, due to their inability to prove their legal origin, the South African government revoked and canceled all South African identity cards and passports of both the beauty queen and her mother.
After being eliminated from the Miss South Africa competition, the Miss Universe Nigeria organizers welcomed Chidimma back to her father's homeland to compete. Despite criticism from Nigerian audiences for not speaking the local language, Chidimma was crowned Miss Universe Nigeria 2024.
At the Miss Universe 2024 competition in Mexico, Chidimma made history by winning the first runner-up title. This is also Nigeria's highest achievement ever at Miss Universe.
Despite bringing home a great achievement for Nigeria, Chidimma's life after the competition remained extremely precarious. For her, Nigeria was a foreign land as she had no family nearby and didn't even speak the local language. Meanwhile, her mother and her son, who was less than three years old, were both in South Africa.
Driven by the desire to reunite with her child and care for her firsthand, Chidimma made the risky decision to falsely claim citizenship in order to illegally enter South Africa, resulting in her arrest.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/a-hau-hoan-vu-bi-bat-post1855810.tpo
