Saga over contestant’s nationality reflects hatred of other Africans fuelled by poverty among black population

When Chidimma Adetshina entered Miss South Africa, she dreamed of being crowned and going on to represent – at the Miss Universe contest in November – the country she had lived in since birth. What she didn’t expect was a furious backlash that would end up with her winning the right to represent Nigeria instead.

A saga over the 23-year-old law student’s nationality has exposed a deep vein of xenophobia in South Africa against immigrants from other African countries that has festered since the end of apartheid, feeding off endemic unemployment, poverty and inequality, and periodically exploding into violence.