The Puebla International Literature Festival has revoked South Africa’s designation as the Country-in-Focus for this year’s festival.
The organisers of the new festival which will take place in October, announced on Thursday evening that they had also withdrawn the invitation of the South African guests following the victimisation of Chidimma Adetshina, and her family.
This comes after Adetshina, who was a Miss South Africa finalist, announced that she was withdrawing from the competition.
The festival intends to celebrate literature and promote cultural exchange by gathering renowned authors, emerging writers, literary enthusiasts, and cultural aficionados from Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Climate of ‘mob rule’
In a statement released on X, the Puebla International Literature Festival director, Ikenna Okeh, said that the decision has been made after careful consideration of recent developments that have deeply troubled the African community.
“It is with a sense of sadness that we acknowledge the distressing events in South Africa, where the apparatuses of the state, coupled with the troubling silence of many within the cultural sphere, have enabled a climate of mob rule.”
“This has led to the victimisation of Chidimma Adetshina, her family, and members of immigrant communities in South Africa, thus undermining the very principles of justice, equality, and human dignity that literature seeks to uphold.
“We cannot, in good conscience, honour a country as a focal point of our celebration when it is currently embroiled in such profound injustice as has been currently gathering momentum following the Miss South Africa beauty pageantry,” the organisation added.
Adetshina’s withdrawal comes after the probe of Home Affairs into the verification of her citizenship, following a request from the Miss South Africa organisers.
In a statement, DHA Minister Leon Schreiber, said an innocent South African mother had her identity stolen as part of the fraud allegedly committed by Adetshina’s mother.
"Adetshina could not have participated in the alleged unlawful actions of her mother, as she was an infant at the time when the activities took place in 2001," the Minister added.
IOL