How Ghanaian Comedians OB Amponsah and Lekzy DC Were Refused Visa To Perform At Comedy Festival in South Africa
A livid OB Amponsah has revealed on his platform on Facebook how he and Lekzy DC missed a golden opportunity to sell their craft to a wider audience in South Africa after they were denied visas by the South African High Commission in Ghana.
In a social media post addressing the matter, which has since garnered much attention from the Ghanaian and South African landscapes of social media, the OB Amponsah disclosed their intention to expand their comedic abilities beyond the confines of Ghana in 2022.
This led to their venture into the South African comedy scene, where they performed at multiple venues to gauge audience reception. This decision was a daring one, as they aligned themselves with Nabil Alhassan and Event Factory to establish a foothold in an unfamiliar market, even as Ghanaian humor gained traction there.
In May 2023, Lekzy DC, Amponsah’s comedy collaborator, joined him on this ambitious expedition to South Africa. However, owing to bureaucracy and negligence on the part of the government of Ghana, they could not have the chance to travel to South Africa for the event.
His full post, as shared on Facebook, reads:
In 2022, I decided to go check the comedy scene in South Africa, do a few clubs and test my strength there. Pitched my tent with Nabil Alhassan and event factory, went and did a couple of of spots in different clubs.
Then I came home to tell my colleagues about a rife market that is so cool to work in, where even our Ghana made jokes work. In May 2023, Lekzy DC, my partner in crime joined the trip to SA and we did more clubs and garnered the attention we needed from event organizers and comedian friends. All of these two trips, personally funded. Gigs, personally sought.
Then our hard work pays off, we are booked for a comedy festival in Bloemfontein happening this Saturday but cannot go because we have not been able to secure visas. I am not sure any event organizer will love to go through the stress we’ve put the organizer through. Dude is just waiting for confirmation so he can book our tickets.
If this doesn’t happen, I doubt he will put us on anymore. “Those Ghanaians will stress you with visa acquisition”, will be their response in sure. I’m sad, Charlie. You take a step forward and then some immigration policies or whatever pull you 3 steps back. What’s the point in sweating here? What’s the point if we cannot reap the benefits of our labor. Ebi hard for this side. 💔
