Kenny Kunene files restraining order against Chidimma

Patriotic Alliance Vice President Kenny Kunene has filed an urgent court application against Miss SA to disqualify runner-up Chidimma Adetshina from the pageant finale this weekend.

The outspoken politician also claimed that the party had been “vindicated” in its concerns over the young woman’s nationality. This, after the Home Office released preliminary findings that Chidimma’s mother had committed fraud and identity theft while registering her birth.

Kenny, along with AP President Gayton McKenzie, was accused of spreading xenophobic and Afrophobic comments against the Top 10 finalist.

The Miss SA final will take place on Saturday 10 August at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria.

KENNY KUNENE BAN ON FILES AGAINST CHIDIMMA, MISS SA

On Wednesday evening, Interior Minister Léon Schreiber revealed the conclusions of a preliminary investigation into Chidimma Adetshina.

This follows a request by the Miss SA organisation – with the consent of the candidate and her mother – to verify her identity documents amid public scrutiny of her nationality.

According to the 23-year-old, her father is Nigerian and her mother is South African of Mozambican origin.

The results revealed evidence that Chidimma’s mother committed fraud and identity theft when registering her birth in 2001.

She also claimed that an innocent South African mother, whose identity was allegedly stolen in the alleged fraud committed by Adetshina’s mother, suffered because she was unable to register her child.

Retweeting the post, Kenny Kunene wrote: “We are known as the Patriotic Alliance. We have been insulted and ridiculed and the SAHRC has also joined in threatening us and patriotic South Africans who have exposed this fraud.”

Kunene added: “We will not stop our legal proceedings to bar this Nigerian from competing in Miss South Africa.”

In a follow-up tweet, Kunene revealed that the party had also filed an urgent interdict application to stop Chidimma from competing in the finals. The interdict targeted Weil Entertainment, which owns the Miss SA brand.

“RECKLESS POLITICIAN”

Although many South Africans agree with Kenny Kunene’s position, SABC and 702 journalist Clement Manyathela called it “reckless”.

Manyathela responded to Kunene: “This does not change what I challenged you on. You were a reckless politician who relied on unverified information on social media to attack a candidate.

“I told you to contact the Interior Ministry to investigate instead of being populist. That doesn’t make you a hero. Far from it.”

In an interview with SABC’s Face The Nation last week, Kunene spoke about two trending social videos in which Chidimma Adetshina was referred to as a “Nigerian”.

“His full name is Nigerian… That’s a problem,” he said brazenly.

He added: “There is no evidence to suggest that she is South African. We want South African surnames. We want Jacqui Mofokeng and Basetsana Kumalo, not anything.”