Miss South Africa finalist Chidimma Adetshina, who recently endured xenophobic attacks over her citizenship status, has refuted claims about a viral video featuring a man misconstrued as her father, stating, "That's not my father."
Adetshina has been trending on social media amid backlash about her citizenship and her Nigerian heritage. Adetshina is in the top 11 of the Miss South Africa 2024 competition.
However, the 23-year-old Adetshina, born in 2001, is the daughter of a Nigerian father and a South African mother of Mozambican descent.
Amid the ongoing backlash, a video went viral on social media in which a Nigerian man was misconstrued as Adetshina's father. In the video, the Nigerian man, who is also married to a South African woman, clearly states that he first came to South Africa in 2010 for the FIFA World Cup.
Adetshina would have been 9 by then.
Whether the video was misconstrued deliberately or not, is unknown.
In the viral video, the man, interviewed on the Ben Stesh podcast show, disclosed that he is Nigerian and his wife is South African.
"I am Nigerian and my wife is South African, and I have lived in South Africa as well. I spent 10 years in South Africa," he said.
When asked if he has children in the country, he confidently replied that they are South African citizens with his surname, as he is married to their mother.
Social media users speculated that the surname is Chidimma, of the Miss SA finalist.
The man said he came to South Africa in 2010 during the World Cup, accompanied by his wife, whom he claimed to have met in the United Kingdom (UK).
"We met in the UK, so in 2010 during the World Cup we decided that we would visit SA to watch the World Cup; that was my first time entering South Africa," he responded when asked about the type of visa he used to enter the country.
He said he entered the country with a visitor's visa, citing that no other visa was suitable for attending the match.
"So, we came to the World Cup and we returned to the UK after a few weeks. Then I had to come back again with a visitor's visa."
He said following his return to the country, he tied the knot with his wife.
When asked whether he considers his children to be Nigerian or South African, he replied: "It's called dual citizenship, they are both."
"They are Nigerian kids that have everything you have (the presenter) as a South African."
While netizens were convinced that the man in the viral video was Adetshina’s father, the Miss SA finalist took to her Instagram stories to set the record straight.
She said she was told about the man claiming to be her father.
"The individual in question claiming and impersonating to be my dad is NOT MY FATHER," she wrote.
She concluded her Instagram story post with, "Thank you."
Despite the backlash, Adetshina has garnered significant support from various public figures and celebrities, including DJ Prince Kaybee and former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse.
IOL