Bala served a bowl of punches �Bad tipper�

Zwai gets coated with many colours Saturday August 02, 2008 23:43 - (SA)

THEO NYHABA South Africa�s kwaito exponent and R&B crooner Zwai Bala got more than he bargained for when he was moered by Unplugged restaurant owner Ivor Fourie in Mellvile and pelted with a paint gun. Bala was entertaining his cousin who was visiting from Port Elizabeth. He tells Sunday World that he was asking about the additional 10% that was added to the bill when the owner was processing his debit card. Bala says he didn�t like the owner�s response. �He said to me: �So you don�t tip now?� I then told him that I don�t like the tone of his voice or approach.� Bala says the owner then started punching him and swearing at him. �I couldn�t just stand there and watch him hitting me. I had to defend myself,� he explains. Bala says other people were shocked and stopped them. But it didn�t end there. Bala says when he was about to take back his card from the owner the man punched him in the face. Bala says this was followed by �bullets� from a paintball gun coming from the bar area. �While I was still standing there, the barman took out something that looked like a real gun and shot at me.� Little did he know that it was a paintball gun. Bala says the shots were not only painful but left him looking like a clown. �I had paint all over my face. I was a laughing stock,� he says. Fourie was said to be out of the country and not available for comment.

But according to the restaurant manager, Sihle Ngubane, who was on duty on the night, the incident was sparked by Zwai�s provocation of the eatery�s owner. Ngubane says Bala did not want to be served by the waiters. He demanded to be served by the manager and �I only served him to do him a favour�. Ngubane says Bala was drunk and he was the one who started swearing and beating up the owner. �He told my boss he must look at him when he is talking to him and then asked him if he knew who he was.� Ngubane says the person who shot at Bala with the paint gun wasn�t a staff member: �It was a customer who saw that Zwai was drunk.� Zwai was admitted to Milpark Hospital and a medical report in the possession of Sunday World indicates that the muso was in the trauma unit. He had suffered some bruises. Inspector Walaza of Brixton police station confirms a case was opened but will not divulge any more information.