Care sought for Adetshina's minor child as the beauty queen's mother is arrested in South Africa

There is concern for the son of Miss Nigeria, Chidimma Adetshina, after her mother, Anabela Rungo, who has been taking care of him, got arrested by the South African police.

She was arrested by South African authorities for allegedly obtaining a South African identity document through fraudulent means.

Rungo, a Mozambican national, was said to have been apprehended in Cape Town in a joint operation by Home Affairs investigators and the South African Police Service.

At the time of her arrest, Rungo was with the Adetshina’s minor child, prompting authorities to engage social services to ensure the child’s welfare.

Adetshina recently got divorced from her husband in February 2024.

“I got divorced in February. We were not compatible because he had this ideology of what an African married woman is. I didn’t want to be in a position where I can’t go out, but had to clean, cook…that was just not for me because, as a society, we are way past that phase,” She had told the Sowetan Live Magazine in an interview.

According to her, she gave birth to her one-year-old son out of wedlock:

“My parents have been very supportive and although my marriage robbed me from enjoying the beauty of pregnancy and being a wife – overall it brings me joy that I get to take new steps with my son,” she Adetshina had added.

Born in 2001 at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Soweto, South Africa, Chidimma Adetshina has a diverse heritage: her father is Nigerian of Igbo descent, and her mother is Mozambican. The multicultural upbringing, which shaped her early years, ought to be to her advantage but this has not been the case based on the query her mother is facing.

According to the spokesperson of Department of Home Affairs, Siya Qoza, Rungo had been declared persona non grata in September 2024, after officials discovered irregularities in her residency status.

“Investigators from the department, assisted by SAPS, detained Anabela Rungo at a property in Cape Town. The Department withdrew Rungo’s South African documentation in September 2024 after finding that it had been fraudulently obtained, rendering her ineligible to continue residing in South Africa,” Qoza said

He said that despite this, Rungo continued to reside in South Africa, allegedly using her Mozambican passport to defy her “undesirable” status.

“It appears that Rungo has defied her ‘undesirable’ status through her Mozambican passport. Investigations are ongoing into further potential misrepresentation and fraudulent conduct.

The arrest came after Rungo’s daughter, Chidimma Adetshina, was found ineligible to participate in the Miss South Africa beauty pageant due to her non-South African citizenship.

Adetshina later won the Miss Universe Nigeria title and finished as the first runner-up at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico.