The social media hate train against Miss SA finalist Chidimma Adetshina rages on. But what exactly are South Africans so bothered about?
Is it because of her links to Nigeria and (much of) the country’s unashamed hatred towards their African rivals? And are her critics fuelled by xenophobia or “patriotism”? And if we must argue the latter, why have we embraced “exports” like Trevor Noah or Elon Musk, whose parents are also, technically, “foreigners”?
MISS SA FINALIST CHIDIMMA ADETSHINA IS MERCILESSLY AND UNJUSTIFIABLY BEING CYBERBULLIED
On the X platform, we’ve seen the vilest comments being hurled against Miss SA contestant Chidimma Adetshina. They include calling her everything from a “jollofina” to telling her to “go home” to Nigeria.
The truth is that Chidimma is a born-and-bred South African. She speaks isiZulu and isiXhosa and knows no other country. Even though her father is Nigerian and her mother is Zulu, with Mozambican ancestry, she qualifies to be a citizen via birth and descent.
That hasn’t stopped the anonymous keyboard warriors from repeating Gayton McKenzie’s “Abahambe” in every post mentioning her name.
It’s become so bad that it’s even affected her mental health. Chidimma has now questioned why she chose to represent a country that doesn’t reciprocate her love.
She told the Sowetan, this week: “I thought to myself, I am representing a country. But I don’t feel the love from the people I’m representing. I even asked myself, ‘Is it worth it?’
“You try so hard to represent your country and wear it with so much pride. But all these people are not in support of you.
WHAT ABOUT TREVOR NOAH?
With Chidimma in the firing line, one tweep questioned the logic when he tweeted: “What about Trevor Noah?”
South African tech entrepreneur @simphiwenodwele – who is “passionate about Africa,” tweeted in a message to Chidimma: “Trevor Noah’s dad is foreign, and his mom is South African, just like you.”
He added: “You are blessed with more melanin than him, yet somehow you are less South African than he is.”
Like the Miss SA finalist, Trevor Noah has a “foreigner” father, Robert Noah, who is Swiss.
The same can be said for SA-born Elon Musk, whose mother, Maye Musk, is Canadian.
What makes Trevor or Elon different from Chidimma?
SOUTH AFRICA VS NIGERIA – WHY IS THE RIVALRY TINGED WITH HATRED?
It’s no secret that South Africa and Nigeria rival in music, food, and fashion.
One can appreciate the debate on Amapiano vs Afrobeats or Nollywood vs Mzansi soapies and films.
However, the competition has turned ugly with social media and societal stereotypes between the African countries.
Most Nigerians have been painted with the same brush as druglords, pimps, criminals, and money-hungry foreigners who “steal” South African women. Nigeria, for the most part, has also engaged in the vitriol against South Africans.
Images via Instagram:
@chichi_vanessa
In 2019, many South Africans threatened Naija artist Burna Boy with violence after he accused the country of being xenophobic following a spate of attacks against African immigrants. In an X (formerly Twitter) rant, he encouraged black foreigners living in SA to “defend and protect themselves” against SA attackers. He also warned his former friend, the late rapper AKA, to “beef up security” in a threatening tweet.
Burna’s war of words with the SA hitmaker soured their friendship, which was, sadly, never restored when the latter was shot dead last year.
Fast forward to earlier this year, the Nigeria authorities warned those living in SA to be vigilant over “veiled threats” after the countries faced off in an Afcon semi-final.
AFRICA IN DISUNITY, AND CHIDIMMA IS ANOTHER REMINDER OF IT
With multiple languages, races and ethnicities as well as religions and beliefs, South Africa is a melting pot of many cultures.
This is precisely why the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu coined the term “rainbow nation”.
It’s been 30 years since the inception of democracy and barely a week since we’ve pledged 67 minutes of our time to honour the late President Nelson Mandela.
Let us remember his words: “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.
“I dream of the realisation of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent”.
