South Africa’s foriegn affairs minister Ronald Lamola has said the citizenship debacle involving a Miss South Africa contestant with Nigerian heritage had no bearing on the country’s diplomatic relations with Nigeria.
According to Lamola, South Africa’s ties with Nigeria were strong and continued to deepen.
Last week, Chidimma Adetshina, born in South Africa to a Nigerian father, withdrew from the Miss South Africa pageant after a hurried investigation revealed her Mozambican mother may have fraudulently obtained residency status in South Africa.
The incident sparked outrage among Nigerians and other Africans, especially after a caucasian was declared the winner of the pageant.
Nigerians and South Africans have been at loggerheads over the incident on social media.
Lamola, however, said the storm around the nationality of 23-year-old Chidimma related purely to eligibility and the Miss South Africa pageant rules.
“Those are things related to that process and should not be interpreted to mean that it’s outside or it’s a reflection on South Africa’s foreign diplomatic relations with Nigeria,” he said.
