Identity Theft And Fraud Uncovered by Home Affairs In The Ongoing Citizenship Investigation of Miss SA Finalist Chidimma Adetshina

Identity Theft And Fraud Uncovered by Home Affairs In The Ongoing Citizenship Investigation of Miss SA Finalist Chidimma Adetshina

On the evening of the 7th of August 2024, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) released earth-shaking information concerning the ongoing investigation of the citizenship of Miss SA finalist Chidimma Onwe Vanessa Adetshina, unravelling a thread of fraud and identity theft on the side of the contestant’s mother.

The investigation ensued owing to public criticism from users of X and Instagram who have been piling up the pressure on the Miss SA Organisation and Adetshina due to discrepancies of the latter’s citizenship and identity. On the 5th of August, the Miss SA Organisation, who had previously assured disgruntled South Africans that Chidimma’s particulars checked out for the pageant, requested that the DHA verify the finalist’s identity details.

Chidimma Onwe Vanessa Adetshina | SUPPLIED

The request, according to the DHS, was sent to them with the express consent of Chidimma as well as her mother’s to facilitate an aboveboard process.

“On the 5th of August 2024, the organisers of the event sent the department a request to verify the citizenship of a contestant, Chidimma Adetshina. This request was accompanied by written consent from both Adetshina and her mother,” said the statement issued by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Adetshina had already said in an interview with Sowetan Live that she was born to a Nigerian father and a South African mother of Mozambican heritage.

Based on first-impression information processed by Home Affairs on the matter, the Department found fraud and identity theft to be at the heart of the matter, with Chidimma’s mother being the primary culprit at the time all this was perpetrated. Additionally, the Department has found that while Adetshina is not to be implicated in these crimes as they were all committed while she was still in infancy, the ministry still intends on pressing criminal charges against all guilty parties upon the formal conclusion of all investigations.

“From the information we have uncovered thus far, the Department of Home Affairs can indicate that: Prima facie [based on first impression] reasons exist to believe that fraud and identity theft have been committed by the person recorded in Home Affairs record as Chidimma Adetshina’s mother; Adetshina could not have participated in the alleged unlawful actions of her mother, as she was an infant at the time when the activities took place in 2001,” said the statement.

Chidimma Onwe Vanessa Adetshina | SUPPLIED

The Department of Home Affairs also revealed that, as a result, a South African mother and her child found themselves as collateral in the whole crime, suffering because the mother’s identity had been stolen, resulting in her being unable to legally register her baby.

“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,” said the statement.

Read the full statement here.

While all stakeholders are still actively engaging on a way forward, the Miss SA Organisation and Adetshina have been mum since the Pandora’s box of the latest developments has been opened.

The Department of Home Affairs has also called for space to formally conclude the investigations. The Ministry has indicated that it would no longer be issuing any more statements regarding the matter until the final results have been verified and ready to be acted upon.

This is a developing story.