Moses Matovu Reportedly Dies After Attack: Uganda’s Afrigo Band Legend Is Dead
+256 702 23 93 37: URN says preliminary information indicates that the veteran musician was attacked while on his way to a mosque for morning prayers. However, the circumstances of the attack and the identities and motives of the alleged attackers had not yet been established in the report. However, his son, in an interview with CBS said his father was returning home after a gig and the infamous Kiface thug boxed him and fell on the road pavement resulting into uncontrollable bleeding..
UgandaToday: Moses Matovu Reportedly Dies After Attack: Uganda’s Afrigo Band Legend Is Dead
By Uganda Today Desk
24 September 2026
A wave of shock has swept through Uganda’s music fraternity following reports that veteran musician and Afrigo Band founder Moses Matovu has died after being attacked on Thursday morning.
Uganda Today has independently checked the alarming reports circulating on social media and compared them with available current media reporting. Uganda Radio Network (URN) has published a report dated September 24, 2026, stating that Matovu died after an attack. URN says preliminary information indicates that the veteran musician was attacked while on his way to a mosque for morning prayers. However, the circumstances of the attack and the identities and motives of the alleged attackers had not yet been established in the report. (Uganda Radio Network)
Accordingly, the death report is now supported by a current news report from URN, but details describing the incident specifically as a confirmed “murder” should be treated cautiously until police or the family provides further information.
What Uganda Today Has Established
The most significant development in verifying the reports is the publication by Uganda Radio Network at about 7:07 a.m. on September 24, 2026, headlined “Afrigo Band Icon Moses Matovu Dies After Attack.” The report identifies Matovu as a veteran musician and says preliminary information indicates that he was attacked while going for morning prayers. (Uganda Radio Network)
However, the URN report does not yet provide the identity of the attackers, the precise circumstances of the assault, the location of the incident, or an official police account establishing the motive.
This distinction is important because social-media messages circulating about the incident have used stronger language, including claims that the musician was “murdered.”
At the time of publication, Uganda Today can therefore responsibly report that Moses Matovu has reportedly died following an attack, while awaiting fuller official information about the circumstances surrounding his death.
A Life Dedicated To Uganda’s Music
Moses Matovu was one of the defining figures in Uganda’s modern popular music.
Historical profiles place his birth on June 19, 1949, in Kawempe, Kampala. He began his professional musical journey in the 1960s and performed with several ensembles before becoming one of the founders and principal figures behind Afrigo Band.
Afrigo emerged from the musical environment of the 1970s and officially became one of Uganda’s most enduring bands. The group celebrated 50 years of music in 2025, with Matovu still performing and leading the band. (GovInfoHub)
His career was not confined to singing. Matovu was renowned as a saxophonist, vocalist, songwriter and band leader, and his career helped shape Uganda’s distinctive live-band sound.
New Vision’s historical profile describes Matovu as central to Afrigo’s development, noting his work in nurturing musicians and maintaining the band’s musical identity over decades.
Afrigo Band: Five Decades Of A Ugandan Musical Institution
Afrigo Band’s history is closely intertwined with Matovu’s own musical journey.
The band combined Ugandan musical influences with Congolese rumba, jazz and other styles, eventually producing a catalogue that became familiar to generations of Ugandan listeners.
At the band’s 50th-anniversary celebrations in 2025, Matovu performed at the Millennium Grounds in Lugogo, where Afrigo revisited songs from its extensive catalogue and honoured musicians who had died over the decades. Daily Monitor described Matovu sharing saxophone solos during the celebrations. (Monitor)
The Government’s Uganda Public Printing and Publishing Corporation also profiled Afrigo’s half-century journey, describing Matovu as the band’s founding leader and noting its emergence from the Cranes Band tradition in the 1970s. (GovInfoHub)
A Career That Also Passed Through Football
Before music completely consumed his professional life, Matovu was also a footballer.
Historical accounts record that he played for several Ugandan clubs, including Express, Police and Nakivubo Boys, before concentrating increasingly on music.
New Vision records that he began his music career in the 1960s and later moved through the Police Band and Cranes Band before helping establish Afrigo.
His story consequently represents more than the history of a single musician. It reflects the development of Uganda’s live-band culture from the 1960s through the post-independence decades and into the contemporary music industry.
The Need For Official Confirmation Of The Circumstances
While the death report has now been carried by a current Ugandan news organisation, several crucial questions remain unanswered.
Ugandans will want to know:
- Where exactly was Matovu attacked?
- What type of attack occurred?
- Was he attacked by one person or several people?
- What was the motive?
- Was anything stolen?
- Were suspects arrested?
- Did he die at the scene or later in hospital?
- Has the Uganda Police Force opened a formal investigation?
- Has the family officially confirmed his death?
These details are particularly important because describing a death as a murder carries a specific factual and legal meaning. Until investigators establish that the death was unlawful and identify the circumstances, responsible reporting should distinguish between “death following an attack” and a conclusively established murder.
Uganda Mourns A Musical Giant
If the current report is confirmed by the family and authorities as expected, Uganda will have lost one of the longest-serving figures in its entertainment history.
Matovu’s contribution stretched across generations. From the early days of Ugandan live bands to the modern entertainment industry, his saxophone, voice and leadership became closely associated with Afrigo’s distinctive sound.
His death would mark the passing of a musician whose career effectively accompanied Uganda’s musical evolution for more than half a century.
Uganda Today will continue monitoring official statements from the family, Afrigo Band, the Uganda Police Force and other authoritative sources as more information becomes available.
Editorial Verification Note
This article deliberately uses the wording “died following an attack” rather than conclusively describing the incident as murder. As of the time of publication, the current report available to Uganda Today confirms the death following an attack but does not provide sufficient details to establish the motive, identity of the attackers or all circumstances of the death. (Uganda Radio Network)
Photo 2: Matovu during Afrigo Band’s 50th-anniversary celebrations at Millennium Grounds, Lugogo.
Caption: Moses Matovu performs during Afrigo Band’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in Kampala in 2025. Photo: Daily Monitor.
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