The organizers of the Puebla International Festival 2024 have cancelled the place of South Africa as Country-in-Focus, and also, the invitation given to South African guests, over the ‘Victimization’ of Nigerian-born Miss SA Contestant Chidimma Adetshina.
The director of the festival, Ikenna Okeh, stated with deep regret that the organizers have no choice but to make the decision.
According to him, the decision was reached after “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”.
The statement says the development has “led to the victimization 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.
“However, we cannot, in good conscience, honour a country as a focal point of our celebration when it is currently embroiled in such profound injustices as has been currently gathering momentum following the Miss South Africa beauty pageantry.”
Puebla International Festival further clarifies that the decision is not a rejection of the rich literary heritage and the many courageous writers, poets, and artists of South Africa who continue to inspire the world but was a statement against the current state of affairs that contradicts its values.
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