Ugandan singer Pallaso has returned to Turffontein in Johannesburg, South Africa, six years after suffering a violent attack during the country’s 2020 xenophobic unrest.
The singer revisited the area where he sought refuge at a local school after being attacked while in South Africa for music performances. His return, documented in a video shared in 2026, marks a striking revisit to a location associated with one of the most frightening experiences of his life.
During the 2020 incident, Pallaso went live on Facebook to appeal for help while sheltering at the school. He described the violence he had endured and pleaded with people to come to his rescue.
“I am at Turffontein school (Johannesburg). Please come and save me,” the singer said during the broadcast.
Pallaso also spoke about the severity of the xenophobic violence, describing injuries he said he had suffered at the hands of his attackers.
“The xenophobic attacks in South Africa are real,” he said, adding that he had been “cut with pangas, hit with bricks and thumped mercilessly.”
According to the account of the incident, the singer remained at the school for several hours before Good Samaritans came to his rescue.
Now, six years later, Pallaso has returned to Turffontein with a noticeably different message. In the video shared from the area, he expressed his feelings about being back in a place he once desperately tried to escape.
“It feels good to finally be back in Turffontein. I didn’t know I could come back here and eat meat,” he said.
The singer was accompanied by several colleagues, who appeared alongside him as they celebrated his return. They expressed support for Pallaso and conveyed confidence that he would no longer be intimidated as he had been during the 2020 incident.
His return brings the story back to a painful chapter in his career, when the violence against foreign nationals in South Africa left him fearing for his safety and publicly asking for help.
The latest video does not erase what happened in 2020, but it documents Pallaso revisiting the location years after the ordeal.
For the singer, Turffontein is no longer just the place where he sought shelter during a frightening episode. It is also the setting of his return, six years after he called for help.