Congolese singer and convicted rapist, Koffi Olomidé’s South Africa performance has been called after enraged citizens’ protest.
Shimmy Beach Club in Cape Town and the Gallagher Convention Centre in Joburg, have cancelled Koffi Olomidé’s South Africa performance .
A group, aptly titled the Stop Koffi Olomidé collective, initiated a campaign and petition after word got out about Olomidé’s planned performance at Shimmy Beach Club in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 30, reports IOL.
According to BBC, the 62-year-old singer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose real name is Antoine Agbepa Mumba, was found guilty of the statutory rape of a former back-up dancer in France when she was 15 years old.
The musician received a two-year suspended jail sentence, ordered to pay 5,000 euros in restitution and will be jailed if he commits further offences. Olomidé was however not present for his trial or sentencing.
He was scheduled to perform at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Friday, June 28 and at Shimmy Beach Club in Cape Town on Sunday, June 30.
The group sent letters to the nation’s president and ministers of Home Affairs, Justice and Correctional Service and Arts and Culture to make the following demands:
- Denial of Koffi Olomidé’s entry into the country. If a visa has been granted, we request that it must be cancelled;
- Cancellation of all Koffi Olomidé shows;
- A public statement by the relevant government department notifying the public that a decision has been taken to disinvite; and
- Co-operating with Zambian authorities in the event that they request his extradition and arresting him upon arrival.
“stage protests in Johannesburg and Cape Town in order to ensure that Koffi Olomidé is stopped from performing in this country.”
On Tuesday, Shimmy Beach Club announced the performance was canceled. “Please note that @ShimmyBeach made the decision last week not to host the Koffi Olomide event that was being run by an outside promoter,” the club tweeted.
This is not the first time the Congolese artist is in trouble with the law according to Capital FM:
– In 2018, Zambia authorities ordered his arrest after he allegedly assaulted a photographer.
– In 2016, he was arrested and deported from Kenya after he assaulted one of his dancers in the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
– In 2012, he was convicted in the DRC of assaulting his producer and he received a three-month suspended prison sentence.
– In 2008, he was accused of kicking a camera operator from the DRC’s private RTGA television station and of breaking his camera at a concert.