VIDEO: 'Identity thief, go home' — Women confront Chidimma outside South African court

• Women confronted Chidimma outside a Cape Town court after her immigration hearing.

• A viral video captured chants of "Identity thief, go home" directed at the former Miss Universe Nigeria.

• The incident comes as South Africa seeks her deportation over an ongoing immigration dispute.

Former Miss Universe Nigeria Chidimma Adetshina was met with anti-immigrant chants outside a Cape Town court on Monday, as a group of women confronted her while she left proceedings in her ongoing deportation case.

A video circulating on social media on Wednesday shows the women chanting at Adetshina as she exited the Cape Town Regional Court, where she had appeared to contest the South African Department of Home Affairs' bid to have her deported.

"Go home, Nigeria is your home. Identity thief, we wouldn't accept you in South Africa," the women chanted in the footage.

The incident has drawn widespread condemnation online, with many Nigerians and other social media users describing the behaviour as xenophobic and calling for accountability.

The confrontation adds a new dimension to an already charged case that has followed Adetshina since 2024, when questions about her citizenship forced her withdrawal from the Miss South Africa pageant amid intense public backlash.

Adetshina was arrested in Cape Town last month over allegations that she is residing in South Africa without a valid immigration status. During Monday's proceedings, the Department of Home Affairs pushed for her to be detained in custody pending deportation, a move her legal team successfully challenged for now.

The Cape Town Regional Court adjourned the matter until August 19, when a magistrate is expected to deliver judgment on the detention question.

Her lawyers have maintained that she was born in South Africa, has no meaningful ties to Nigeria, and is not a flight risk. The state has alleged that she holds a South African passport she has refused to surrender and re-entered the country through Mozambique using a South African visa after obtaining Nigerian travel documents.

Born in Soweto to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother, Adetshina's nationality has been the subject of legal and public scrutiny in South Africa for over a year.

After withdrawing from Miss South Africa, she was invited to represent Nigeria at the 2024 Miss Universe pageant, where she finished first runner-up, the highest placement ever achieved by a Nigerian contestant.

The chants outside court on Monday reflect a broader tension in South Africa over immigration, a debate that has intensified in recent months amid rising unemployment and social pressure on foreign nationals living in the country.

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