The cold-blooded slaying of internationally renowned rapper Kiernan Forbes, better known as AKA, has shocked South Africans and triggered a flurry of theories over who wanted him dead, and why.
Just after 11pm, videos of two bodies covered in silver foil outside Wish restaurant in Durban’s Florida Road went viral. It was confirmed that the rapper and his friend and celebrity author Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane had been shot multiple times while standing on the pavement.
Social media was flooded with speculation about the motive behind the killing in Durban. One source suggested AKA had been warned several times not to visit the city and had apparently kept a low profile on previous visits.
On Friday night, ahead of the release of a new album and shortly before he was due to perform at a Durban nightclub, the rapper was gunned down outside Wish restaurant on the trendy Florida Road nightlife strip.
Also killed in the shooting was Forbes’s close friend, celebrity chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.
The rapper had posted highlights of his visit to Durban throughout the day on social media, beginning with his flight, going to gym, getting a haircut, and then going to Wish in a party that included Motsoane, former Dream Team member Lusasa “Saso” Ngcobo and DJ/producer Benny Maverick.
The shooting happened as the group waited for their car outside the restaurant. It is believed a white Golf GTI pulled up, several men got out, fired several shots and then drove off.
A resident who lives near the restaurant, who asked not to be named, rushed to the scene after the gunshots.
“It was a very dreadful and painful thing to happen,” the resident said. “For a very popular person like him to be killed on a busy road like this is just shocking. The whole road was blocked and people came out to the scene. Whoever did this chose to shoot him in Durban because they knew it was more relaxed, especially on Florida Road.”
Police spent most of yesterday at the scene gathering evidence, questioning staff and witnesses and checking video footage from neighbouring businesses.
The rapper’s father, Tony Forbes, and his brother Steffan, were also there. They flew to Durban earlier in the day to identify the body at Durban Central morgue.
Our son was loved and he gave love in return. In this time of grief we appeal for your compassion, space and time to congregate as family
— Tony and Lynn Forbes
The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government said yesterday it was confident the police would soon apprehend the killer.
Sipho Hlomuka, MEC for transport, community safety & liaison, said highly qualified teams of investigators had been assigned to the case.
Hlomuka, who is also chair of the provincial justice, crime prevention & security cluster, received a report from the provincial commissioner of police, Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
“We cannot surrender the freedom and safety of our people to criminals. Police have assured us that they are working around the clock.”
Hlomuka said provincial authorities would improve police visibility and work with eThekwini Metro Police and other security structures to protect city residents, including restaurant patrons.
ALS paramedic Garrith Jamieson said that one of the men had been declared dead on the scene. The other had been in critical condition and died despite the best efforts of medics, he said.
Tony Forbes and the rapper’s mother Lynn released a statement saying they were waiting for further details from police.
“Our son was loved and he gave love in return. In this time of grief we appeal for your compassion, space and time to congregate as family to decide on the upcoming days. We thank you for the love and support we have received thus far, and ask you to continue to keep us in your prayers and uplifted in the Lord.”
Amid the outpouring of grief, speculation swirled, with some suggesting a link between Friday's shooting and the death of Forbes’s fiancée Anele Tembe in April 2021. She fell to her death from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town, where the couple were staying.
Questions linger over the circumstances surrounding her death.
Tembe was the daughter of Durban business tycoon Moses Tembe.
A source close to AKA claims that after Anele’s death the rapper had received several warnings never to step foot in Durban again. The source, who is also close to a former business associate of AKA’s, said this person had been warned to distance himself from the singer.
“I don’t know whether you say it was arrogance, or if he [Forbes] was just hard-headed, but he and people around him had been told that he must not set foot in Durban,” the source said.
“This wasn’t the first time [since Anele’s death] that he was in the city, but before he was always low-key about this presence.
“You sort of question the wisdom of ignoring these messages, even if they were not explicit, because his business associates here were no longer keen on being associated with him because they were also warned.”
The source, who has a relationship with the family, said: “He’d been warned not to set foot in Durban over the girlfriend who allegedly jumped off the balcony in Cape Town. Now recently he was back on the twittersphere, showing off.”
Moses Tembe told the Sunday Times yesterday he was “perturbed” by any speculation suggesting he or his family were involved in the hip-hop star’s death.
“Anyone who truly knows me and our family would not spread such rumours. We’ve never judged Kiernan. We demonstrated our love for him to the very last day,” Tembe said.
He shared a WhatsApp message he had sent to Tony Forbes yesterday. “It is with deepest shock that we’ve learnt of passing on of our son-in-law, Kiernan,” it said. “We feel so much pain for you Antonio, Lynn, Kairo and family. Princess and I would like to visit home and convey condolences in person. Kindly forward address and most convenient time to meet you and family.”
He said Forbes had responded, expressing his appreciation for the message and promising to be in touch soon.
Tembe said he shared in the pain of AKA’s parents.
“Kiernan was an extraordinarily talented musician. His music contributed meaningfully to South Africa’s rich musical tapestry. We extend our condolences to his extended family, his fans.
“We’re so saddened by this sad eventuality as it robs us of the opportunity that we’ve been waiting for so patiently to vindicate our daughter in court or in an inquest,” he said.
At Anele’s funeral, Tembe rejected suggestions she had been suicidal.
“I categorically state Anele was neither suicidal nor did she commit suicide,” he said at the time.
“We must as a matter of priority deal with the scourge that bedevils our youth, alcohol, which is overused, and drugs. Fellow South Africans, we better wake up and smell the coffee. We have a serious problem with substance abuse.
“I cannot allow an unfortunate narrative to go unchallenged, a narrative that irks me no end, that is ‘Anele was chronically suicidal’. All I can say is, until Anele turned 21, not a single member of her family, my family, would have associated her with suicide,” Tembe said at the funeral.
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