Chidimma Adetshina’s Mother Allegedly Paid Thousands to Steal SA Woman’s Identity

• Social media revisited earlier details about Chidimma Adetshina's mother's prima facie fraud case
• A recently resurfaced video detailed the struggles of the South African woman whose identity was stolen
• Outraged online users demanded justice for the victim's family, while others criticised the disgraced beauty queen's actions amid the scandal

Old footage from a Department of Home Affairs briefing resurfaced on 28 August 2026, shedding more light on how the former Miss South Africa contestant came to hold fraudulent citizenship documents. The clip revisited the case against her mother, Anabela Rungo, who allegedly stole the identity of an innocent South African woman in 2001 to register her daughter's birth.

According to the department, the woman whose identity was stolen was born in 1982 in Tshwane. She only discovered the theft years later when she applied for her first smart ID card, at which point she learnt that another individual had been registered under her details since 2001.

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"She gave birth in 2001, and when she went to register her child at Home Affairs, it was then that she discovered there was a child registered under her ID number, and the child was three months old at the time. The child that was registered was Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adechina," the department stated.

What the Department of Home Affairs found

Authorities allege that Rungo paid Home Affairs officials R8 700 to have Chidimma registered under the stolen identity, effectively robbing the real victim of her own legal documentation. Three Johannesburg Home Affairs officials responsible for registering Chidimma's birth were identified; one has since passed away, while the remaining two are currently under investigation.

The department was clear that Chidimma herself could not have played any part in the fraud, given that she was merely an infant at the time. Briefly News previously reported that her ongoing legal battle over the cancellation of her citizenship documents has been postponed to 27 February 2027 as deportation proceedings continue through the courts.

Mzansi weighs in on Chidimma Adetshina's case

Social media users had strong opinions about the fresh details. Below are some of the responses:

PhiwoMnyandu said:

"The victims of the identity theft should start suing the DHA and/ or the corrupt officials (and their pensions) who sell the IDs. Maybe this is one of those private prosecutions @JacintaNgobese and SAFM shall undertake."

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mnyandu_sindi wrote:

"She should've just left; she has opened a can of worms by fighting this citizenship. People are stopping at nothing to become South African."

Alaskakid3 added:

"Although Chidimma was an unwilling participant, how she handled it as an adult crushed any logic of seeing her as a victim; the real victims are two South Africans - mother and daughter whose identities were stolen by these criminals!"

Watch the viral footage below.

Chidimma Adetshina's alleged father breaks silence

In an earlier report, Briefly News shared an audio recording of a man believed to be Chidimma Adetshina's father sharing his family's ties to South Africa.

The gentleman explained how he first went to South Africa and answered the seemingly uncomfortable question of whether his children were South Africans or not.

Source: Briefly News