Chicco Twala out on R2 000 bail after ‘toy gun’ arrest

LEGENDARY muso Sello Twala, wellknown as Chicco, has been released on R2 000 bail.

He was arrested this week on allegations of assaulting and pointing a firearm at a City Power electrician at his Bloubosrand, Randburg, home.

Twala appeared at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for bail proceedings. The State did not oppose bail as Twala had no outstanding cases and the magistrate granted it.

The 59-year-old yesteryear hitmaker claimed he pointed a toy firearm on Sunday at a man he thought was a cable thief. He was arrested on Monday, which saw him spending a night behind bars.

Michael Sun, Joburg’s MMC for environment and infrastructure, condemned what he labelled a violent attack on a City Power technician.

“Whilst the technicians were working, a resident approached one technician and threatened him with violence should the team continue with their work,” he said. “The resident went on to attack the technician and pointed a cocked pistol to the technician’s head to force him to stop working”.

City Power workers were in Twala’s neighbourhood to attend to a power outage. Sun said the technicians were forced to run for their lives following Twala’s “irrational violent behaviour”.

Police investigations appear to lend credence to Twala’s claim that he was armed with a toy gun.

Phindi Mjonondwane, regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, said Twala faced charges of pointing something that resembled a firearm and common assault.

Twala is due to return to court on August 26.