Miss SA finalist Adetshina 'has right to choose her nationality'
The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities says Miss South Africa finalist Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina has the right to choose her own nationality.
The remarks by the department’s Director-General, Mikateko Maluleke, came amid a heated debate over Adetshina’s participation in the Miss SA pageant.
The 23-year-old finalist was born in Soweto to a Mozambican mother and a Nigerian father.
Speaking at the launch of Women's Month on Thursday, Maluleke said nationality is no longer determined by the father.
"The law in South Africa allows the child to attain citizenship through the mother. We no longer have the law that says only the father can give the child citizenship. There are two things in South Africa: either the mother is South African, or both parents were permanent residents of South Africa at the time when the child was born.
"That child must choose to use the right and decide to be permanent in South Africa; you cannot use that right as joint citizenship. The question that needs to be asked is, is the mother South African with Mozambican descendants? Is she really South African or not? Those are the responsibilities of the Department of Home Affairs.”
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