Pearl Thusi defends Miss SA contestant chidimma adetshina

Actress and DJ Pearl Thusi has defended Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina amid a debate about her eligibility to represent the nation.

Since making it to the Top 30, Chidimma has faced criticism on social media, with detractors questioning her South African identity and suitability as an ambassador because, although it is alleged that she was born in South Africa, However her father is Nigerian.

It hasn’t been confirmed if she was born of a South African Zulu woman or from a Mozambican woman who entered he country illegally.

In a video circulating on social media, Pearl pointed out that the trolls were targeting Chidimma because she is a black woman competing in a pageant, while athletes and individuals in other industries are embraced regardless of their backgrounds.

“She was born and raised in South Africa, therefore she is a South African. She can’t call Nigeria home, even though her parents may be Nigerian or wherever they may be from. That is beside the point,” she said.

“If she was a white girl and she was half French, half something else, you guys might have never even noticed, but because her name is what it is now it’s a big deal. But you guys have people in our cricket teams, in our parliament and different sectors of the South African ecosystem whose parents are not South African but they were born here, that you may know or may never know of, and this girl has to suffer because she is black, and she’s female and it is a pageant?”

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