The mother of Chidimma Adetshina, Anabela Rungo, has been arrested by Investigators from the Department of Home Affairs assisted by the police in Cape Town on Saturday morning. The department said it 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.
But the department said it has since discovered that, in what it described as an apparent act of brazen disregard for the legal consequences of her conduct, Rungo defied her “undesirable” status through her Mozambican passport. The department said investigations are ongoing into further potential misrepresentation and fraudulent conduct. “During the operation this morning, investigators from the Counter Corruption and Immigration Services branches of the Department also found Adetshina’s under-aged child residing with Rungo. After being processed by Home Affairs over her apparent illegal continued residence in South Africa, Rungo will be handed over to the SAPS as she is also the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.
Home Affairs is further liaising with the Department of Social Development and SAPS Child Protection Unit as it relates to protecting the interests of the under-age child,” read the statement. The department said further details in the matter will be provide at a later stage, adding that no interviews will be conducted at this stage.Adetshina was thrown into the spotlight during the Miss South Africa pageant, after it was discovered that her mother stole someone’s identity, which she used to apply for a South African ID, and after receiving it, she applied for Adetshina’s identity document. Following the investigations, Chidimma’s identity was stripped, and her passport confiscated. After her withdrawal from Miss SA pageant, Chidimma represented her father’s native Nigeria at the Miss Universe pageant, where she was runner-up.
