'This girl has to suffer because she is black?' — Pearl Thusi defends ...

Actress and DJ Pearl Thusi has come to the defence of Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina, who has been at the centre of a debate about her eligibility to represent the nation.

Since advancing to the Top 30 of the competition, Chidimma has faced criticism on social media with detractors questioning her South African identity and suitability as an ambassador for the country because, while she was born in South Africa, her father is Nigerian.

In a video circulating on social media, Pearl said the trolls were shaming her because she was a black woman competing in a pageant, while there were athletes and people in different industries who were embraced despite where they come from.

"She was born and raised in South Africa, therefore she is a South African. She can't call Nigeria home, even though her parents may be Nigerian or wherever they may be from. That is beside the point," she said.

"If she was a white girl and she was half French, half something else, you guys might have never even noticed, but because her name is what it is now it's a big deal. But you guys have people in our cricket teams, in our parliament and different sectors of the South African ecosystem whose parents are not South African but they were born here, that you may know or may never know of, and this girl has to suffer because she is black, and she's female and it is a pageant?"