What really happened to Pallaso? Video of vandalized Benz emerges

What really happened to Pallaso - Ugandan recording artist and younger brother to Jose Chameleone in South Africa on Wednesday, February 19?

More details of his widely shared ordeal in the hands of goons in Johannesburg have surfaced, and to some, cast aspersions on his earlier xenophobic attack claim.

A position shrugged off by Pallaso who stated that Xenophobia was real and urged his compatriots to stop the mockery.

“My fellow Ugandans joking about my situation I want to inform you ‘Xenophobia’ is real. I am not in court and I don’t owe anybody an explanation but the greatest part of it is I’m still alive,” he wrote on Facebook.

According to critics, the attack was exaggerated, a robbery gone wrong and inflamed by sketchy information on what exactly transpired that led to his hospitalization.

For starters, a video of a Mercedes Benz being vandalized in a suburb that SDE cannot independently verify, is making rounds on social media, that Pallaso claim was the one he was travelling in when he was accosted. Observers claim it is an old footage.  

Clearing the air, he claimed that the video was not from earlier xenophobic flare-ups nor the Benz owned by a Nigerian.

“This here is not a Nigerian owned car as claimed, this is Deno Kiwunya’s Mercedes car being demolished after I fled the scene under mob attacks. The same car I was seated in before all this happened. As you can see it parked on the roadside next to the shop we went to buy food at. I was attacked because I am in South Africa and I’m not South African,” said the songwriter, producer and videographer.

Read Also: Jose Chameleone’s brother attacked, stabbed in South Africa

He also rubbished claims that the attack was orchestrated by a jilted man who saw him chat up his lover in a bar and vowed not to be cowed.

“They beat me, my fingers are still bruised, I have a sharp pain in my tummy, but whatever happened to me can happen to anyone.

"I will be performing irrespective of my condition even if it means to perform from a wheelchair," said the singer who had been in the country for nine days before the attack, according to Ugandan media.

Wednesday attack

Revealing that his life was in danger after going into hiding, a teary Pallaso on Wednesday claimed that the armed group was baying for his blood.

“Ugandans pray for me, I'm in serious problems... I went with my colleague and went to a place with Kiwunya Denno, who cruised me to that location... We stopped by the roadside, only to find people with Machetes and children, the little children pointed at me and within no time, the gang came to our car.

“I opened the car and took off. The driver sped off, leaving me with the gang that descended on me and started thumping me. I fell down. As I took off, I was knocked down by a car, I tried to open this car to escape from the mob that was armed with pangas, but the driver too sped off,” he said.

Read Also: Socialite blasted by fellow South Africans over her anti-xenophobia remarks

When news broke, fellow musicians led by his brother Chameleone and pop star-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine Condemning the attack.

“I am troubled by the news coming in from South Africa that our brother and fellow artiste Pallaso has been terribly attacked and hurt in what is said to be a xenophobic attack. I wish you the quickest recovery young king, and hope that the authorities will quickly investigate this,” said Bobi Wine.

While Chameleone added: “(I) just talked to Pallaso he’s in danger after attacks as he was shooting a video in South Africa. We must condemn such violent acts in our people. We are all African.”