Musician Ernest ‘Chicco’ Twala appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, facing charges of pointing something that resembled a firearm, and common assault.
He appeared in court on May 3, was released on R2 000 bail and will return on August 26, when the case was postponed for further investigations.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane explained that the incident occurred in Bloubosrand on May 1.
“Two City Power technicians attended to a call of power outage in the area,” she said.
“On arrival, the technicians had to switch off the power and that is when Twala allegedly charged at one of them, strangled him and pointed at him with what resembles a firearm.”MMC for the Environment Infrastructure Service Department, Michael Sun has condemned the so-called violent attack on a City Power official in Bloubosrand this past weekend.
According to a statement issued by Sun, the incident took place on May 1.
“City Power technicians received reports of a multi-day power outage in the Bloubosrand area affecting several houses and despatched a team to repair the fault. To repair the fault and restore electricity to the affected homes, the power needed to be temporarily cut to a wider area so the technicians could work on the faults,” Sun said.
“Whilst the technicians were working, a 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 at the technician’s head to force him to stop working.”
The City Power technicians are said to have fled the scene fearing for their lives. City Power representatives reported the matter to the Douglasdale police on Monday with the assistance of the local ward councillor Mark van der Merwe. The suspect has since been arrested and appeared in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on May 3.
“While we understand the frustrations of residents when it comes to power outages, we absolutely condemn this irrational violent behaviour,” Sun said.
“City Power technicians are constantly exposed to dangers to keep the lights on in Johannesburg. A gun-toting madman threatening anybody in their duties is entirely unacceptable and must be dealt with the full might of the law.”
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