Over 16 million South Africans voted in the May 29 elections which produced no clear winner for the first time in Mzansi's democratic dispensation.
Among those who did vote, and perhaps even among those who did not vote, many would have no doubt loved to vote for former president Jacob Zuma to get into Parliament.
But that couldn’t happen, because Zuma did not qualify to stand as a Member of Parliament, owing to his July 2021 conviction and sentencing to 15 months imprisonment for being in contempt of court.
No matter how loudly or how much of a racket that followed, once the Constitutional Court ruled on the matter as it did in May, just a fortnight before the elections, it was over for Zuma, in that respect.
Enter Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina, the beautiful former Miss South Africa hopeful, born of a Nigerian dad and a Mozambican mom. Until last week, millions of South Africans were hoodwinked into believing Adetshina's mother was a South African.
"My dad is a proud Nigerian and my mother was born and raised in South Africa but has roots from Mozambique. My mom's family still lives in Soweto and I visit them from time to time," the 23-year-old Soweto-born Adetshina told the media.
A preliminary investigation by Home Affairs found Adetshina's mom may have committed identity fraud and acquired her citizenship illegally, a preliminary finding yet to be rebuffed in any way, shape or form, by the Adetshinas.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, with the consent of Adetshina, her mother and the Miss SA organisers, delegated a team of officials to conduct archival research, visit hospitals and other sites to verify information.
They found that there were prima facie reasons to believe that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by 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 Schreiber.
“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 Schreiber.
We don't have all the facts, but essentially, Adetshina benefited with SA citizenship and a birth certificate at the expense of someone else when she was born in Soweto in May 2001.
In the meantime, Adetshina's citizenship is the subject of legal debate, as the investigations continue with a view of pressing charges against all implicated, including the parents and government officials.
These preliminary findings, although not set in stone, had devastating consequences for Adetshina and led to her pulling out of the Miss SA 2024 race just two days before the finals.
In her statement on withdrawing from the competition, she cited safety and the wellbeing of her family, and said nothing about the elephant in the room - her mother's alleged part in identity fraud for her own benefit.
A member of the deaf community, Mia le Roux, eventually emerged as Miss South Africa 2024, and well done to her.
Of course, Adetshina has been at the centre of vitriolic anti-foreigner and Afrophobic sentiment ever since the Top 16 of Miss SA was announced; this cannot be denied and must be condemned.
However, the new information coming to light from Home Affairs cannot be simply ignored because some of us feel Adetshina has been wronged.
According to some industry observers, Adetshina stood a genuine chance of victory, but the questions around her citizenship just wouldn't go away.
The bullish pursuit of the truth from ordinary South Africans, which festered for weeks on radio, in the press and on television, was largely ignored by the Miss SA organisers.
For the Miss South Africa organisation, serious questions now need to be asked of this organisation and its leadership.
The Miss South Africa organisers have contributed to the waning public trust. On July 2, 2024, Miss South Africa told IOL in an e-mailed response that: ”All documentation provided by the entrants is screened and vetted by the Miss South Africa Organisation.”
Cambridge Dictionary defines vetting thus: the action of examining someone or something carefully to make certain that they are or it is acceptable or suitable for something.
When Miss SA said they had vetted Adetshina and the other Top 16 contestants at the time, we in the media and the reading public, believed them.
It is for this reason that there was such a furious defence of Adetshina for so long, because everyone trusted Miss SA organisers to communicate the truth.
We now have to question this vetting that they conducted and wonder who did the vetting? Was it genuinely done, if it took Home Affairs a mere two days to make a damning preliminary finding? What were the Miss SA organisers doing for over a month as South Africans lynched poor Adetshina over her citizenship.
It is quite troublesome that Miss SA and their service providers have distinctly different findings on the matter, compared to Home Affairs.
Poor Adetshina
You have to feel terribly sad for Adetshina. This Miss SA saga was perhaps supposed to be her crowning moment for 2024, having finalised her divorce in February, but it wasn't to be.
She, like the other victim who had her identity stolen at birth, is a victim in all of this due to the alleged fraudulent behaviour of her mother in 2001.
But in so empathising, we must not lose sight of the fact that someone's identity has allegedly been stolen, and Adetshina has benefited from that, going on to live a peaceful and privileged life in Cape Town.
She is, in essence, the benefactor of crime and this cannot be simply swept under the carpet and be left ignored in the name of Ubuntu.
Many have suggested that it is unfair for Adetshina to face the consequences of her parents’ actions, because she did not know anything about it, or that someone else's identity had been stolen and that person's life has been made a mess.
Not so, it does matter. The rule of law matters in South Africa, and that must be upheld.
If we want to build a prosperous and a functioning country for all, we need to all embrace and accept that there are rules and we play by them.
We need to give the Home Affairs, and no doubt, the South African Police Service (SAPS) space to conduct their investigations and act accordingly on the criminal elements that are involved in the saga.
Adetshina herself may not be guilty of any crime, her wish was only to become Miss SA, but unfortunately, in so affording her the ability to be able to even chase that crown, the crime of identity theft against another fellow citizen appears to have been committed in the process.
This is not something that can be swept under the carpet for us to sing Kumbaya, My Lord.
We live in a country steeped in rule of law, rule of law which is gradually petering to ruins as some public officials and political leaders shun it.
We should not accept our president’s having stuffed foreign currency hidden in furniture in their private residences, neither should we accept our public officials selling off people's identities for a quick buck.
When we are confronted with these realities, truth, social justice and the rule of law must prevail.
From the likes of DJ Sbu, Pearl Thusi, Prince Kaybee, Lerato Kganyago, Somizi and many other celebrities who rightly defended Adetshina over the attacks she received, they must hold their heads high.
This sorry saga has undoubtedly landed the Miss SA organisers with a massive publicity nightmare, and undoubtedly their strategists will be finding ways to take advantage of it, but in doing so, a 23-year-old’s resolve has been broken and you can't help place a level of blame and responsibility at the door of Miss South Africa, the organisation.
We can only hope they give Adetshina the necessary support to get past this ordeal, as it all seems like it could have been avoided if it was not allowed to fester for so long, only for the whole charade to blow up in her face.
The reality is, jail time is a real prospect for Adetshina's mother, and subsequently, the revoking of citizenship could follow for Adetshina and her child, as well as her parents.
These are the consequences of the parents' behaviour. Adetshina may have committed no crime, but by the same token, she cannot benefit from the same crime.
The South African public loves a victim, so Adetshina could come out of this stronger than ever, with A-list influencer modelling contracts here and in Nigeria, but for now …
Good luck, and sorry Chidimma Adetshina, but the rule of law must reign supreme in South Africa, our land.
* Sihle Mlambo is a content manager at IOL.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.