By: Natasha Archary

Miss South Africa 2024 finalist Chidimma Adetshina is hurt by what she calls “black on black” hate after social media blew up over xenophobic remarks about her nationality.
The 23-year old law student who was born in Soweto, made the Top 16 of the pageant earlier this month and has progressed to the Top 14 stage of the competition.
However, public outcry over her nationality has been growing as she gets closer to the title and crown, and Chidimma has opened up about her nationality, confirming that she was born and raised in South Africa.
Chidimma’s surname caused a frenzy of xenophobic hate on social media, leaving the beauty contestant to question whether representing a country that she didn’t feel support from was worth it.
Speaking to the Sowetan SMag, Chidimma explained that while her father is Nigerian, and her mother of Mozambican descent, she was born at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and was raised in Pimville, Soweto.
Chidimma currently lives in Cape Town, and was excited to enter Miss SA but didn’t foresee the public backlash over her surname and nationality.
“I was so excited to enter Miss SA and honestly, I didn’t think that far as to what the public would think. But once I got to the top 16, that’s when I felt it. People on X were asking why I’m competing because I’m not South African. They questioned my nationality, along with my parents.
At first I ignored it but as I progressed in the competition, the criticism started growing by the day. Until I thought to myself, I am representing a country but I don’t feel the love from the people I’m representing – I even asked myself if it’s worth it.
You try so hard to represent your country and wear it with so much pride but all these people are not in support of you. I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t know what to say or not to say because this is such a sensitive topic. I don’t want to end up saying something and then offend people.”
Chidimma says she feels this is just black on black hate because she’s not the only finalist who has a surname that is not South African.
She also feels that the attention on her because of her skin colour puts her at a disadvantage but says she wants to redefine beauty and inspire young women.
Bryoni Govender, Miss SA 2023 runner up also felt colourism within the Indian community made her question her beauty for a long time.
The 27-year old who had her Miss SA dreams dashed, losing out to her roommate, Natasha Joubert said because of her dark skin tone, she never felt beautiful as a young girl.
However, since entering Miss SA, Bryoni’s skin tone has become her superpower and she was recently crowned Miss Supranational Africa 2024 .
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