Breakthrough in AKA murder
SUSPECTS: FIVE IN CUSTODY FOR MUSO, FRIEND KILLINGS 2 others nabbed in eSwatini, but for other crimes in SA – police.
The tale of a mastermind, two shooters and two spotters unfolded yesterday as a seventh man allegedly involved in the murders of AKA (real name Kiernan Forbes) and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane was arrested.
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the 30-yearold suspect was apprehended in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) yesterday.
The arrest comes a day after Police Minister Bheki Cele and KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi revealed that six suspects were in custody in connection to the murders.
However, only five suspects will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court today. The other two are detained in eSwatini.
Forbes and Motsoane were gunned down outside the now-defunct Wish on Florida restaurant in Durban on 10 February 2023.
Cele and national police commissioner Fannie Masemola hosted a press briefing late on Tuesday night in Durban, where Cele confirmed six suspects were in custody.
While the motive was still unknown, the police said Forbes was the target and Motsoane was shot by coincidence. “From our investigation, it became clear that Mr Forbes was the main target. He is the one that was followed from the airport to the hotel and he was the one that was spotted inside the restaurant,” said Mkhwanazi.
“The plan was not to shoot him in the manner that they did; they were going to shoot him in the vehicle, but because he stood outside longer, greeting his friend, the hitmen did not want to wait.”
This comes after a report on Monday by Times of eSwatini on the arrest of two suspects allegedly linked to the execution-style killings. However, Mkhwanazi refuted claims the suspects who were apprehended on Friday in eSwatini were linked to the AKA murder investigation.
He said the suspects are scheduled to be extradited to South Africa to face charges of attempted murder and murder in relation to another incident that occurred on 6 March, 2023, in Berea, where a man was shot and killed while in a vehicle.
Mkhwanazi said the mastermind, or coordinator, of the crime, two shooters, two spotters (one inside and another outside) observing the Mass Country rapper, and the organiser of firearms and vehicles used were in police custody. “The organiser was also responsible for gathering resources together, the whole team together, and the rewards that came thereafter,” he said.
“The second suspect in custody is the person who supplied the vehicles and firearms and that person was also linked to two other murder cases. The third one is a shooter who was linked to another murder case.
“We have another spotter who was just outside the restaurant, who is also linked to another case, and another spotter who was outside Wish, who is linked to two other murder cases, and we have the shooter, as a sixth person, who is linked to another murder case.”
Police also confirmed they recovered four vehicles – two of which were hired – that were linked to the case, a firearm, and cartridges that were linked to another crime scene. The firearm used to kill Forbes and Motsoane was recovered on 22 April, 2023.
Mkhwanazi said once the suspects were identified, the police used a strategy to look at the parallel cases the suspects were involved in and used them to keep the suspects in custody.
“The reason for that is because we wanted to make sure we got almost all the suspects, especially the organiser of the hit. So, after identifying everyone else, we could realise that four of the six had parallel cases,” he said.
The police said the first suspect was arrested on 22 April, 2023 for organising the firearms and vehicles; the second suspect was arrested on 24 October; the third suspect was arrested on 14 December and after chasing two suspects for a year, the police found the house where they were hiding in eSwatini on Saturday.
“These two were arrested in eSwatini for other cases,” Mkhwanazi said. –
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