Kgosi Makaza, better known as simply ‘Kgosi’, is an award-winning Namibian-Motswana comedian, filmmaker, entrepreneur and presenter who became known as Namibia’s youngest comedian at the age of 15, after winning the Last Comic Standing Namibia competition.
“I just wrapped up a hectic shoot that consisted of 12 hours,” says Kgosi, before he sits down to chat to The Weekender.
Kgosi says he practically grew up in the film industry.
“I’m extremely grateful for the fact that I was able to dispel the myth that being an artist in Namibia is a waste of time, as I was able to make genuine business moves in the creative sector,” he says.
He says he has managed to sustain his lifestyle, got the opportunity to acquire a luxury vehicle and is able to meet his daily needs.
“All of these are the products of consistency mixed with passion and talent. But if I made no money doing this, I would still do it, because I genuinely love the craft.”
Originally from Botswana, Kgosi’s family moved to Windhoek before he was born.
He has obtained a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the Namibia University of Science and Technology, and has been heavily involved in the Namibian entertainment industry since Grade 9, he says.
RISING TO SUCCESS
“The people around me always said I was a funny and unique individual due to my eccentric personality, and they advised me to try comedy.
“On my first day in Grade 1, I arrived with the cornrow and braided hairstyle mimicking R Kelly, who, at the time, was in heavy rotation with the song ‘Ignition Remix’, which I knew word for word,” Kgosi recounts.
“Although I was called into the principal’s office along with my mother, where they demanded I get a haircut, I still continued idolising various comedic actors and musicians throughout primary school.
“At the age of 12, my Grade 6 friend ‘Motjaritje’ gave me a USB with stand-up comedy specials by Katt Williams, Kevin Hart, Trevor Noah and ‘The Original Kings of Comedy’ specials, featuring greats such as Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer,” Kgosi says, adding this was when his passion started.
“At the age of 14, I attended my first-ever comedy show when Trevor Noah performed at the National Theatre of Namibia, and it was then that I decided I was going to hit the stage,” he says.
Kgosi says he then started looking for stand-up comedy plaforms in Windhoek.
“I stumbled upon Free Your Mind Entertainment and Slick The Dick, who were then running a national competition for comedians, called Last Comic Standing, and auditioned for the contest at the Bank Windhoek Theatre School.”
He says the Free Your Mind executives were blown away by his audition and allowed him to enter the contest.
“On the night of the show, I went head to head with the many other comedians and ended up being announced the winner of Last Comic Standing,” he says.
One of the founders of Free Your Mind, Slick the Dick, describes Kgosi as a young, eager and aspiring comedian with a lot of potential at the time.
“We took him under our wing and nurtured him,” says Slick the Dick.
He says the aim of the Last Comic Standing was to seek out and train up-and-coming comedians, and then provide them with a platform to showcase themselves.
Kgosi says a few months after winning the competition, he went on tour to the north with acclaimed comedians Lazi and Slick the Dick as their opening acts, and his skills went up another level.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Kgosi was also crowned comedian of the year in 2013 and represented Namibia at the World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, California, where he won a gold medal.
“My gap year after high school before starting university was spent on a world tour, performing in more than 20 countries worldwide while travelling and living on a cruise ship as an entertainer or comedian.”
In 2019, Kgosi won a Namibian Theatre and Film Award for his short comedy film ‘NDF Survival Kit’.
“I hosted Miss Namibia 2019 in the same year and was nominated for the Pan-African Comedian of the Year Award alongside Africa’s top comedians,” Kgosi recalls.
His biggest achievement, he says, is writing and starring in Namibia’s first full-length comedy film, ‘Penda’s Dilemma’.
The film is now available on ShowMax and DStv Catch Up. In an extra-mile move, the film will also be on repeat on NBC from December 2023 until 2025.
From 2020 to 2021, with support from the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Kgosi wrote, directed and acted in a televised miniseries and national circumcision campaign called ‘The Smart Cut’, starring himself, King TeeDee, Chelsi Shikongo, Geneva Crow and Big Mitch, for three seasons.
“The aim of the miniseries was to use entertainment to encourage Namibian men to get circumcised, and a sharp increase in circumcisions was observed when the episodes started being aired on national broadcasters and posted on social media,” he says.
Last year, with support from the European Union, he founded a project called ‘Sounds of Nam: A National Tour’, which was hosted at 10 Namibian towns.
“The objective of the project was to have shows at 10 different towns in 10 months and book aspiring musicians at each town who then had the chance to open for an established headlining musician at each town,” explains Kgosi.
He adds that his first few shows took place in Windhoek and at Gobabis, Walvis Bay, Lüderitz, Okahandja and Rehoboth, while the last shows are set to take place at Ongwediva, Swakopmund and in Windhoek once more.
“Besides the emerging artists who successfully auditioned online and were selected to perform, some of the headlining acts included Chester Houseprince, Mega, Waters, Azmo Nawe, DJ Dreas and Chikune.
“The main aim of the project was to increase the visibility, experience and opportunities for local hopeful musicians,” he says.
LATEST PROJECT
His latest project is called the ‘Open Arms Music Project’, which is an initiative that aims to encourage Namibian young people to harness the potential of the music industry by professionalising them and equipping them with the right resources, knowledge, networks and tools to actively participate in the music scene to build a sustainable performing arts industry.
“It’s a three-day workshop that took place in six different regions of Namibia. The towns included Gobabis, Ongwediva, Keetmanshoop, Swakopmund, Rundu and Windhoek,” says Kgosi.
He says the facilitators of the workshop included himself, legendary producer Elvo and the founders of the Namibian streaming platform Donlu Africa.
“After the workshop, we sponsored the artists for a free recording, mixing and mastering session in a professional studio. The songs will be showcased in Windhoek in early November,” he says.
ACTING CAREER
Kgosi has starred in some of the films he wrote and directed, including his first short comedy film, ‘The Kapana Kid’, in 2018.
He says he became a fully fledged actor after the production of ‘Penda’s Dilemma’, a film which narrates the story of a German-Namibian millionaire named Schnitzel (Ralf Boll), who will stop at nothing to seize the ancestral land of two indigenous communities for diamonds.
His film ‘The Kapana Kid’ is about the journey of an out-of-touch child named Tangeni who tastes kapana for the first time and dedicates his life to tasting it again, but the obstacle in his way is that he must go to Katutura.
This was followed by two more viral comedy skits, titled ‘Namibia Taxi Strike’ and ‘The Omunye Tactic’.
“In 2019, I wrote, directed and starred in my Namibian Theatre and Film Award-winning short comedy film ‘NDF Survival Kit’, which was a mock tutorial on how to act when you get approached by an aggressive Namibian Defence Force soldier and how to avoid getting smacked by him.
In 2021, he wrote and starred alongside Miss Namibia 2018, Selma Kamanya, in a short film called ‘Cyberbully’, which followed the story of a high school boy who was being cyberbullied by his peers.
The film was directed by Undjee Zaire of Reggie Films.
“This year, I plan to contribute much more to the creative economy so the lives of future creatives can be made easier,” says Kgosi.
