The Ghanaian man, who was captured in a viral video being accosted by a group of South Africans have broken his silence after the confrontation.
The man has been identified as Emmanuel Asamoah, who has been captured in a video being engaged by Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie.
According to the Ghanaian man, by God’s grace, nothing bad happened to him.
Speaking in the video shared on X by EDHUB, Emmanuel Asamoah stated, “The little I have to say is that I’m well. I was the one in the video, but by God’s grace, nothing bad happened to me. I’m fine.
“I’ve had some discussions with Ghana’s High Commissioner this morning, so everything is fine,” he said.
Also, Ghana’s High Commissioner Benjamin Quashie urged Ghanaians living in South Africa not to take matters into their own hands, saying, “The situation is dire; we understand. Let’s continue to be law-abiding. Let’s continue to respect the rules and regulations and the rules of engagement as migrant citizens in this country. I think that whatever it is that we do, we’ve always been noted as Ghanaians to be law-abiding; we’ve always been noted as being people who don’t foment trouble. So, let’s not go that route yet. Let’s continue to engage with them. And I’m sure that it is just a matter of time before everything will be all right.
“Wherever you find yourself, as your servant leader, I ask you to be law-abiding. I ask you to be patient. We’ve asked some of you, for example, in Impatah, not to work in your shops today. We’ll be sending that advisory to most of the other provinces where we pick up any information. Our belief is that we should work together to ensure we don’t have casualties. Let’s work together to ensure that whatever it is that we do will continue to foster the bilateral relationship that we have between South Africa and Ghana. Thank you,” he said.
The development follows a viral street confrontation video from South Africa, showing activist Victoria Africa, commonly known as Queen Vee and a group of locals questioning a Ghanaian man and other African migrants about their travel documents.
According to Victoria Africa, South Africans are tired of other African countries migrating to their country and refusing to fix their own countries.
Victoria Africa in the viral video stated, “We are fixing this continent. This thing of you guys moving from one country to another is no longer working. We don’t want this as African people anymore. We are tired of seeing African migrants moving all over the world, refusing to fix their own countries. Now we are making it very clear to you guys, we don’t want you here. We want you to fix your countries.
“You came here with a travelling document. We came with a passport. You know that you are a visitor, but you decided to come and integrate into our communities. You know very well that what you have done is wrong. We can come to Ghana and do what you do now.”
The Ghanaian man was then asked to show his passport. After he showed them the document, which was a “certified copy” of his passport, they accused him of buying it from a corrupt South African official.
Another man asked the Ghanaian man, “Who is the police officer that you are bribing to certify these things for you… Let me tell you, you know, by law, as an immigrant, you’re not allowed to certify your passport… Why do you certify your passport in a foreign land? Let’s just start there. Why do you certify your passport in a foreign land?”.
The man explained that he had a certified copy because he did not want the original one to get lost or destroyed by rain.
The South Africans kept insisting that he was in their country illegally and should leave.
The footage has triggered an intense online debate about xenophobia and migration.
Watch the video below:
Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, has engaged a Ghanaian national, Emmanuel Asamoah, who was featured in a viral video being confronted by locals over his stay in the country. https://t.co/xOwlhD0lF8 pic.twitter.com/8BcTPQWL9H
— EDHUB🌍ℹ (@eddie_wrt) April 23, 2026