Miss SA row 'xenophobic'

This anti-African sentiment is not only limited to beauty pageant contestants.’

- Brian Sokutu

A gainst a background of Miss South Africa pageant finalist Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina born at Soweto's Chris Academic Hani Baragwanath Hospital to a Nigerian father and a mother of Mozambican descent - having given him "funny vibes", Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie continues to endure condemnation for his remarks.

Labour federation SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and the EFF described McKenzie's outburst as "xenophobic bullying".

McKenzie this week stirred a political storm when he questioned Adetshina's bloodline and eligibility to enter the beauty contest.

"We truly cannot have Nigerians competing in our Miss SA competition," he said on X.

McKenzie's spokesperson Cassiday Rangata-Jacobs yesterday said the minister's investigation on Adetshina has begun.

On whether McKenzie was likely to change his stance on Adetshina, Rangata-Jacobs said: "As a minister, he listens to all sectors of society. He has explained that if he could ignore people who voted for him and their queries about the matter, what kind of person would that make him?" Appalled what it described as "xenophobic bullying", Saftu condemned "aspersions cast on the citizenship of Chidimma".