A court in Cape Town postponed the South African government's deportation case against Chidimma Adetshina until February 2027, leaving the 25-year-old free for now while her review is finalised. The hearing was held on Wednesday and pushed the next decisive stage far into the future.
The delay matters because Adetshina is still fighting a decision by South Africa's home affairs department to declare her a prohibited person in 2024 and move toward deportation. Officials want her detained as they pursue that case, but the postponement means no removal action can advance until the review is completed.
Adetshina said after the hearing that she was born in South Africa and that she had been treated unfairly. She also said she had applied through the proper legal channels to have her status and citizenship determined, arguing that she should not be made an example of in a case that has followed her since her public profile rose during the 2024 Miss South Africa contest.
The government's case rests on a very different account. South African officials say she was arrested in June this year after being accused of re-entering South Africa unlawfully, then released on warning. They have argued that she applied for a South African visa while in Nigeria and that Nigerian passports were issued for her and her son, before she returned through a Mozambican border post.
The dispute over her status widened after her South African identity and travel documents were stripped in 2024, when questions about her citizenship surfaced during the pageant investigation. She later left South Africa, was invited to take part in Miss Universe Nigeria and went on to win. In 2025, Anabela Rungo had her South African citizenship revoked, adding another legal thread to a case built around identity documents, citizenship records and who had authority to issue them.
The postponement does not settle that fight. It simply freezes the next courtroom test until February 2027, when the review challenging home affairs' decision to deport Adetshina is due to be finalised and the court will again have to decide whether she remains a South African citizen or faces removal.
