Analyst tackles what it means to be South African amid #MissSA debate

Diversity, Culture and Change Consultant, Bongani Tshabalala, says the law of the country should be the deciding factor on Miss SA contestant, Chidimma Adetshina’s eligibility for the crown.

Tshabalala is also urging the Department of Home Affairs to outline what the Constitution says on citizenship to help quell the uproar over whether the 23-year-old qualifies for the competition.

The consultant has weighed in on the conversation amid a raging debate and anger over who is eligible to wear the Miss SA crown.

Adetshina is in the eye of the storm as her nationality came under question after it was revealed that her father is Nigerian, and mother is of Mozambican descent.

Some South Africans even pushed for her disqualification from the contest, even calling for her parents’ legal status in the country to be checked.

 

Tshabalala further outlines where the confusion might come from for some of Adetshina’s detractors.

 

 

The diversity expert has also commended the South Africans who started the debate on the 23-year-old’s nationality.

He says while uncomfortable – the conversation on what it means to be South African needs to be had.

However, he cautions that while healthy debates are important, name calling, and exclusionary language are counter-productive in efforts to find resolution on contentious issues.

 

Tshabalala says the ongoing probing on Adetshina’s nationality is no different to what many South Africans who live abroad experience.

However, he believes, the 23-year-old’s case is a bit different as she was born here.

Tshabalala says limited resources and opportunities are at the heart of tensions between migrants and locals, which invertedly becomes a battle on diversity, race, gender and age, among others.

 

Pan-Africanist political activist, Jackie Shandu, has slammed the division among Africans, saying Adentshina’s only crime is the fact that she was born to foreigners.

Shandu says the conversation around the young woman draws factors, which are fundamentally political and social.

He says being a black foreigner in South Africa has become weaponised by populists and demagogs.

 

On social media, the conversation also rages on, with the EFF and PA leader and Arts and Culture Minister, Gayton McKenzie, expressing their differing views.

 

The EFF’s Statement on Afrophobic Attacks Against Miss South Africa Contestant Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina

-This situation reflects remnants of apartheid and colonisation, where divisive ideologies continue to plague our society. It is particularly troubling that previous… pic.twitter.com/3py9mWljdP

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 31, 2024

Written by Nokwazi Qumbisa