When law student Chidimma Adetshina secured a coveted spot as a finalist for Miss South Africa, her victory sparked outrage and exposed a trail of xenophobia that lurks just beneath the surface for some in the country.
The 23-year-old’s name gives away her connection to Nigeria, but internet detectives wanted to know more and combed through every corner of her life. They discovered that her father is Nigerian and while her mother is South African, her family came from neighboring Mozambique.
“On behalf of the South Africans, we don’t recognise her and that name! She better pack her bags and go home,” raged one commentator on X.
But where is home? Ms Adetshina is South African, as confirmed by the pageant’s organisers. She has said in interviews that she was born in Soweto – the township next to Johannesburg – and grew up in Cape Town.
But the “go-home” sentiment and even harsher attacks flooded social media. There was also a petition demanding her removal from the high-profile television competition, which gathered more than 14,000 signatures before it was taken down.
The country’s Culture Minister, Gayton McKenzie, leader of the Patriotic Alliance, which has joined a coalition government and made migration issues a key part of its party manifesto, weighed in on the debate.
“We really can’t have Nigerians competing in our Miss SA competition. I want to know all the facts before I comment but it’s already a funny feeling,” he said on X.
The issue is hitting a nerve in South Africa and goes beyond the question of who will be on the podium at next weekend’s final.
Ms Adetshina declined a request from the BBC for an interview, but told news site Sowetan Live that the online hate she faced made her think twice about running.
“I represent a country, but I don’t feel the love from the people I represent,” she said.
Ms Adetshina added that the whole situation felt like “black-on-black hatred”, highlighting a specific form of xenophobia in South Africa known as “Afrophobia”, which targets other Africans.
She felt she was not the only one among the final 16 contestants with a name that comes from outside the country’s borders – there are also some with South Asian and European names – but she still received the most criticism.
When asked to respond to the comments Ms Adetshina had received, a spokesperson for Miss South Africa did not directly address the comments, only saying that she was eligible to compete in the competition.
This wasn’t the first time this had happened. For Melissa Nayimuli, last year’s Miss South Africa candidate, it brought back difficult memories.
The 28-year-old was the target of the same vitriol as Ms Adetshina because her father is of Ugandan descent.
She told the BBC she wasn’t surprised by the reaction she received, as she had been experiencing this for most of her life.
“It’s something I tried to run away from, but how do you run away from yourself?” she asked.
Ms Nayimuli said she grew up speaking Xhosa, her mother tongue and one of South Africa’s official languages, constantly to “prove her South African identity”.
Her voice broke as she confessed that as a child she felt ashamed of her Ugandan identity because of the Afrophobia she experienced.
“I wouldn’t want to be seen with my father because his dark skin and East African features were very obvious,” she told the BBC.
“At home my father was my hero, but outside I saw him being treated like an enemy.”
According to University of the Free State sociologist Dr Nombulelo Shange, this hostility is due to South Africa’s history of racism and the apartheid system, which imposed a strict hierarchy that favoured white people.
“There is a sad apartheid mentality that is difficult for us as a country to get rid of,” she said.
“It shows the deep self-hatred that we as black South Africans carry with us.”
Dr Shange added that South Africans have internalised oppressive racist reasoning, such as colourism, where a lighter skin colour is seen as better.
After apartheid ended in 1994, the government led by Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) welcomed African migrants and asylum seekers to the country, partly to promote reintegration on the continent after years of isolation.
But as many South Africans struggled financially, foreigners became the target of frustration.
Zimbabweans, Nigerians and Somalis, among others, are accused of stealing opportunities and resources from South Africans.
There is a “perception of outsiders as competitors for scarce jobs, resources, living space and services,” Michael Morris, head of media at the South African Institute of Race Relations, told the BBC.
He said the growing number of Africans finding success in South Africa “can easily create resentment and violence”.
This climate of hostility has occasionally erupted into attacks. South Africa experienced its worst outbreak of violence against mainly African foreigners in 2008, when more than 60 people were killed.
“There are black South Africans who will argue that Africans from elsewhere on the continent do not belong in South Africa,” Morris said.
More than a decade ago, Mrs. Nayimuli felt this hostility painfully when her father was arrested.
“My father is the kindest and gentlest soul in the entire universe,” she said. Yet he was treated like a criminal because, she said, he looked like a foreigner.
When Mrs Nayimuli’s mother arrived at the police station in the capital Pretoria where her husband was being held, the officers did not even have a statement or charges against him.
Her father was released and Ms Nayimuli’s family never spoke of it again.
They had often stood on their toes to avoid the xenophobia they faced, but when it surfaced at Miss South Africa last year, it was an opportunity for them to address the issue head-on. For Ms Nayimuli, it was part of a healing process.
Now that she sees Mrs. Adetshina experiencing the same kind of abuse, her sympathy goes out to her.
“She’s not just a trending topic. She’s a human being. She’s a young woman being bullied online — it’s wrong, it’s hurtful, and it’s so dangerous,” she said.
But she stressed that xenophobes are a small minority and that there are many South Africans calling for unity.
Leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party Julius Malema defended Ms Adetshina last week, saying: “Why do people want to say she is from Nigeria or Mozambique? She was born here.”
This message of coming together was the message with which Ms Nayimuli concluded her Miss South Africa adventure.
Last year, during the final round of the competition, she called for unity in Africa despite the hatred.
“Let us step into our power as Africa. We are one,” she told a raucous audience that cheered her message of unity.
But it seems that this has not really taken root, because discrimination is rearing its ugly head again.
Next Saturday, Ms. Adetshina will get her chance to take the stage, but it is not yet clear whether she will actually tackle the haters.
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