Miss South Africa finalist, Chidima "Chichi" Adetshina, has withdrawn from the pageant, two days before the crowning of the queen. This comes after the Department of Home Affairs announced last night that her mother, who is reportedly a Mozambican national, allegedly stole a South African woman's ID to register the beauty queen's birth in 2001.

WITHDRAWING FROM THE COMPETITION

In a statement posted on her Instagram account today, Adetshina said she made the difficult decision to withdraw from the competition for the safety and wellbeing of her family. In her withdrawal statement, Adetshina said: "I would like to start off by thanking everyone who has stood beside me right from the start of my Miss South Africa journey. I'm really grateful for all the love and support I have been shown." She added, "Being part of the Miss South Africa 2024 competition has been an amazing journey; however, after much careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to withdraw myself from the competition for the safety and wellbeing of my family and me. With the support of the Miss South Africa Organisation, I leave with a heart full of gratitude for this amazing experience." She concluded by wishing the other finalists luck. "Whoever wears the crown represents us all," she said in the statement.

HOME AFFAIRS ASKS FOR MORE TIME TO INVESTIGATE

The Department of Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber, confirmed that Adetshina is not a South African citizen and that people who were involved in the fraud case would be prosecuted. Schreiber said that the department was providing the update to the public based on the official request received from Miss SA, as well as the consent provided by both the contestant and her mother. He said upon receiving the request, the department deployed every resource at its disposal to establish the truth. In a statement today, the department asked for space to conclude Adetshina's citizenship investigations. "The Department of Home Affairs acknowledges the media and public interest in the ongoing investigation requested by the Miss SA pageant. The update provided yesterday indicates that our team is hard at work to establish the full set of facts and committed to communicating those facts in a transparent manner at the appropriate time," the department said in a statement. The department said they will not be commenting publicly again on the matter until they are in a position to announce the final outcome of the inquiry. "We are committed to concluding the investigation speedily," the department said.

PA LAUNCHES A URGET COURT APPLICATION

While Adetshina has withdrawn from the pageant, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) had already filed an urgent application at the North Gauteng High Court to force her to withdraw from the competition. It is not clear if the urgent application brought by the PA would still be heard at the North Gauteng High Court since Chidima has quit the contest. The matter was going to be heard on Saturday, August 10 at 10am. The deputy president of the party, Kenny Kunene, said they were awaiting till 4pm to confirm with the senior judge to have their matter allocated for Saturday.