Chicco Twala granted R2,000 bail after allegedly attacking City Power technician

The Randburg Magistrates’ Court has granted musician Ernest “Chicco” Twala R2,000 bail.

This after Twala’s appearance in the court on Tuesday facing charges of pointing something that resembles a firearm and common assault.

Twala was released on R2,000 bail and will return to court on 26 August after the case was postponed for further investigations. 

According to a statement issued by the City and MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Service Department Michael Sun, City Power technicians received reports of a multi-day power outage in the Blousbosrand area affecting several houses and despatched a team to repair the fault.

In order to repair the fault and restore electricity to the affected homes, the councillor said power needed to be temporarily cut to a wider area so the technicians could work on the faults on Sunday, 1 May. 

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

According to Sun, “The resident in question in fact had power to his house but did not want the technicians to work on the faults affecting other residents in the area.”

After allegedly being threatened in this manner, the technicians reportedly fled the scene fearing for their lives and the outage remains unresolved. 

City Power then reported the matter to the Douglasdale police on Monday with the assistance of the local ward councillor Mark van der Merwe.

“We understand that the suspect was arrested swiftly,” added Sun before condemning Twala’s alleged behaviour.

“While we understand the frustrations of residents when it comes to power outages, we absolutely condemn this irrational violent behaviour,” Sun said.

Twala has labelled his arrest as a win for him. 

READ MORE: Chicco Twala jailed after pointing gun at City Power technician, calls arrest ‘a victory’