South Africa’s foriegn affairs minister Ronald Lamola has mentioned the citizenship debacle involving a Miss South Africa contestant with Nigerian heritage had no bearing on the nation’s diplomatic relations with Nigeria.
In line with Lamola, South Africa’s ties with Nigeria had been robust and continued to deepen.
Final 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 mom could have fraudulently obtained residency standing in South Africa.
The incident sparked outrage amongst Nigerians and different Africans, particularly 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, nevertheless, mentioned the storm across the nationality of 23-year-old Chidimma associated purely to eligibility and the Miss South Africa pageant guidelines.
“These are issues associated to that course of and shouldn’t be interpreted to imply that it’s exterior or it’s a mirrored image on South Africa’s overseas diplomatic relations with Nigeria,” he mentioned.