READER LETTER | Chidimma uproar rooted in hatred towards her Nigerian heritage

Chidimma Adetshina.
Chidimma Adetshina.
Image: instagram

It is fair to state that despite SA's disappointing performance at the recent controversial Paris Olympics, there was a cause for celebration: the preliminary findings by home affairs regarding Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina's citizenship.

This is noteworthy, because 30 years post-democracy, a white minister is tasked with investigating and categorising the ethnicity of black individuals. This mirrors the actions of the Bantu Act and the Influx Control Act, which differentiated those "born in SA" from those born in "foreign homelands". The most jubilant were black South Africans from townships and regions, excluding their kin from "backward homelands", along with coloured people, white people and Indians.

What started as the exclusion of all black people evolved into a coveted status among those black South Africans and minorities who considered themselves part of a progressive, white-led SA, targeting the rest of the undesirable black populace. Echoes of this sentiment are still apparent in figures like minister of sport, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie and former home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

It must be acknowledged that Africa and the black diaspora may no longer overlook SA's actions, especially when it boldly intervenes in the Israel-Palestine conflict through international courts. The uproar over Adetshina's participation in the Miss SA pageant was rooted in hatred and disgust towards her Nigerian heritage, which some South Africans felt did not align with their national identity. This was not about the other contestants or SA; it was about a deeper self-rejection among black people due to numerous unresolved issues.

Beyond the divisions of tribalism, superstition/witchcraft and widespread poverty, there is a black community longing for an apology and acceptance from a white minority. Foreigners often become the focus of these issues because they are seen as outsiders in SA that cherishes its white population, who may not reciprocate that affection.

A time will come when the broader black community in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, America and the rest of the world will no longer tolerate such xenophobic attitudes and the demeaning of fellow Africans by the South African government and its mostly black citizens.

Khotso KD Moleko, Bloemfontein

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