Chana picks up the pieces of his life
Musician puts horror shooting behind him
HIS BABY daughter Nia kept him going through the dark times. This after being mistaken for a kidnapper and shot by police in a horrifying incident that changed SA rapper Khuli Chana’s life.
Speaking to Independent Media this week, ahead of the launch of his documentary Picking Up The Pieces in Joburg on Thursday night, Chana said those few moments when police pumped nine bullets into his vehicle at the New Road garage in Midrand in October 2013, turned his world upside down: “It’s taken me a while to get to a place where I’m comfortable and courageous enough to talk about it.
“That story stole my fire when I was at the peak of my career. It came in there and changed everything,” he says.
In October 2013, Chana, whose real name is Khulane Morule, was at the top of his game with his hit Lost in Time.
He’d won a multitude of inter national and national awards, picking up Best Male Artist and Album of the Year at the SA Hip Hop Awards, and cleaning up at the 2013 Samas, taking home awards for Best Male Artist, Best Rap Album and Album of the Year, as well as winning Best Collaboration award at the Metro FM Music Awards. He was also named as one of the best dressed men in South Africa by GQ magazine. Life was good. “That fateful night I was on my way to an event in Pretoria and had stopped at the garage to wait for my DJ.
“Picking Up The Pieces shows what happens next. My life changed overnight and my immediate reaction was, why has this happened to me?”
While realising he was lucky to have made it out of his car alive, Chana put all his focus into trying to maintain his music career under the unrelenting glare of the hype that surrounds celebs. “I went into a dark space,” he says.
Over the next three years, he fought an uphill battle with police and the courts.
“I became very withdrawn and a loner. I didn’t trust anyone. The music wasn’t fun any more.”
Over the past three years, he learned some of life’s hard lessons, as the shadow of doubt and fear hung over his life. At one stage he was even accused of trying to run police over, and attempted murder charges were laid against him. They were withdrawn later.
“At the end of the day you have to make lemonade. My daughter, who was only 3 months old when it happened, had a lot to do with my healing. She was my reason for living. It’s really about the simple things, spending time with people you love.”
In June this year, Chana won his civil claim against the SAPS. The matter had gone to the Johannesburg High Court before a settlement was reached. He’s not allowed to disclose the amount in the settlement agreement, although the rumour mill puts it at around R2 million.
Chana feels vindicated, and harbours no hard feelings towards the police: “I didn’t make this documentary to trash the police. There are good cops and bad cops out there.
“We created this for anyone who has gone through a similar experience. It could happen to anyone.”
In 2015, his life started looking up again. He was chosen as South African ambassador for Absolut Vodka, and has been busy with a Pan African collaboration album titled One Source, which has seen Chana doing a lot of travelling across the continent.