Legal proceedings continued on Thursday in the deportation case involving former Miss Universe Nigeria Chidinma Adetshina, who appeared before a South African court. The deportation process began in June after immigration officers arrested her in Cape Town for allegedly residing in the country unlawfully. Following her initial arrest in the Summer Greens neighborhood, she appeared before the Cape Town Regional Court and was released on a formal warning.
The Department of Home Affairs is pressing forward with the deportation, prompting her return to court on the scheduled date. During the hearing, Adetshina submitted an official affidavit detailing her efforts to legalize her immigration status as part of her legal challenge against the deportation. She left the Cape Town Regional Court complex shortly after presenting the document to the presiding judge.
The legal dispute comes nearly two years after her Nigerian background sparked intense national scrutiny and public debate during her run in the Miss South Africa competition. Born in Soweto to a Nigerian Igbo father and a Mozambican mother, Adetshina reached the top thirty of the Miss South Africa pageant before the mounting pressure led her to withdraw. She was subsequently invited by organizers in Nigeria to represent Taraba State in the Miss Universe Nigeria competition, which she went on to win before representing the country at the global Miss Universe event in Mexico.
The current court action intensified after immigration officer Adrian Jackson filed documentation showing that the Central Law Enforcement Unit of the Department of Home Affairs had successfully tracked her whereabouts. According to Jackson, Adetshina and her young son were living in South Africa without the necessary legal permits. The officer noted that he was already familiar with her case from a previous inquiry. He explained that officials cross-referenced her personal information with the department’s electronic database before holding an interview to determine her current status. Jackson requested that the court authorize her continued detention to allow Home Affairs to fulfill its statutory obligation of removing undocumented foreigners from the country.
These courtroom developments follow a previous directive from Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, who turned down an application to review the department’s decision to deny Adetshina and her son a letter of good cause. In his official submissions, Schreiber stated that Adetshina had been formally notified in September 2024 of the government’s intent to revoke her South African identification documents as well as those of her child.
The minister’s brief noted that she had secured a Nigerian passport while visiting Nigeria and later used it to apply for a visitor’s visa to South Africa. He further stated that she was officially declared a prohibited person on December 19, 2024, yet subsequently re-entered South Africa from Mozambique through the Lebombo border control point while claiming South African citizenship. The minister also rejected the separate immigration appeals submitted on behalf of her son.
