By Everson Luhanga and Zukile Majova
Police have confirmed that the killing of rapper Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, famously known as AKA, was an organised hit involving a fee described as being “not much money” paid to the killers and spotters.
One suspect was still on the run when the police spoke on Tuesday night while two suspects arrested in Swaziland are still being processed for extradition to South Africa.
On Wednesday morning police confirmed they had arrested the remaining suspect.
The SuperMega and his friend, celebrity chef Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane, were killed just over a year ago outside a Florida Road restaurant on 10 February 2023.
Police believe the multi-award winning artist was the only target of the hit and Tibz was not supposed to have been killed.
The gunslingers were meant to attack while AKA was in a car but he took longer than they expected, lingering outside the restaurant speaking to friends.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said the suspects would appear in court on Thursday.
“I received information that the family has been informed. The oldest of these guys is 36. In terms of the money, well, the life of a person, you can’t know how much it’s worth. But you would think that for such a high-profile person, you’d expect that the money paid would be a lot.
“They were all paid equal amounts, by the way,” said Cele.
Cele said the police were confident that they would secure the conviction of AKA’s killers because the entire investigation was led by state prosecutors who advised the detective on how to collect and secure the evidence.
KZN provincial commissioner Lieutenant-general Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said police have been hunting for the killers for a year with the first arrest made in Cape Town in April 2023.
He outlined a hit that was well organised and coordinated by one person. The coordinator – known in the world of KZN Izinkabi (contract killers) as umkhuzi wenkabi – organised the personnel, the firearms, and four vehicles used in the hit. He also paid everyone.
Cele referred to the coordinator in another criminal underworld term, often used in taxi-industry killings, which is umdidiyeli. Police have not ruled out the possibility that the coordinator was contracted by someone else to organise the entire hit.
In the video: Lieutenant-general Nhlanhla Mkwanazi during the press briefing in Durban.
Pictured above: Slain rapper AKA.
Source: X
