The Department of Home Affairs has found prima facie evidence that Miss SA contestant Chidimma Adetshina's mother may have committed fraud. A high-level investigation by the Department of Home Affairs found that Adetshina's mother committed fraud by using someone else's ID number to register the Miss SA hopeful's birth in 2001.

A REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION FROM MISS SA

To avoid embarrassment before the Miss SA beauty pageant to be held on Saturday at SunBet Arena in Pretoria, the organisers asked for Home Affairs to investigate the controversial matter. In a statement tonight, the Department of Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber, confirmed that Adetshina is not a South African citizen and that people who were involved in the fraud case would be prosecuted. Schreiber said that the department was providing the update to the public based on the official request received from Miss SA, as well as the consent provided by both the contestant and her mother. He said upon receiving the request, the department deployed every resource at its disposal to establish the truth. "This has included archival research, visits to hospitals and site visits to verify information," Schreiber said.

POSSIBLE IDENTITY THEFT

The minister said from the information they have uncovered so far, the department believes that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by Adetshina's mother and that the Miss SA finalist could not have participated in the alleged fraud as she was an infant at the time when the activities took place in 2001. "An innocent South African mother, whose identity may have been stolen as part of the alleged fraud committed by Adetshina's mother, suffered as a result because she could not register her child. The Department has broadened its investigation to identify and pursue any officials involved in the alleged fraudulent scheme and is obtaining legal advice on the implications of the alleged fraudulent activity on Adetshina's citizenship status; and upon the completion of the investigation, Home Affairs intends to press criminal charges against all implicated parties," he added. The Minister also said that there were ongoing engagements with all stakeholders, including Adetshina's mother.

PUBLIC OUTCRY

In the past few weeks since Miss SA announced the finalist, there has been a public outcry, with many calling for an investigation into Adetshina's citizenship status. There have been reports that she was born in Soweto to a Mozambican mother and a Nigerian father. South Africans felt that she was not eligible to contest in the pageant as she was not a South African. The Miss SA pageant has been thrown into disarray, where even Gayton McKenzie, the Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture, said last week that if Adetshina was not a South African, she should not compete. "We truly cannot have Nigerians compete in our Miss SA competition. I want to get all the facts before I comment, but it gives funny vibes already," he said last week. Before the matter blew in the past few weeks organisers were adamant that they did all the background checks for her to compete. After the revelations by Home Affairs, Sports, Arts, and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie said that their next step is to find the South African mother who suffered because her child's identity was stolen. "Thank you, Minister Leon Schreiber. Let's blow open this whole racket, and arrest should surely follow," McKenzie tweeted.