AKA hit squad ring leader’s litany of run-ins with the law
Taxi boss Gwabeni has a collection of dangerous firearms
Muziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, the man who allegedly assembled a team of hitmen to assassinate hip-hop juggernaut AKA, is a gunman who owns various firearms of different calibres, including the Spartan Arms International (SAI) 2.0 rifle, the Girsan 9mm parabellum and a Canik.
Gun experts said the high-powered SAI rifle, which is semi-automatic, could only be legally owned by dedicated sportspersons, security companies or gun collectors and requires stringent conditions to acquire the competency licence.
Section 16 of the Firearms Control Act provides that the rifle is for owners with dedicated sport shooter (DSS) status, either as a sport shooter or a hunter.
To be awarded DSS, you must be a member of a registered shooting or hunting club and complete their unique registration process.
Also, the ownership of more than one firearm is regulated by Section 15 of the Act, which provides that the owner should be an “occasional sportsperson”.
Sunday World could not establish whether Gwabeni qualified for any of the above-mentioned statuses.
The police said the firearm licences for these weapons were issued between May and June 2021. This was after he obtained his firearm competency certificate between November 26, 2019 and May 27, 2020.
One of the firearms, a Canik handgun, was stolen from his Pinetown home in Kwazulu-natal in August last year, just six months after AKA’S gruesome murder, which hogged international headlines and sent shock waves across the country.
The taxi boss opened a case of theft at the Pinetown police station after the burglary.
The police further said Gwabeni also found himself on the wrong side of the law after a Mpumalanga man, Collen Lethabo Nkosi, opened a case against him for allegedly pointing a firearm at him in Ermelo in March 2021.
Another complainant, January Moloi Ntsube, opened a criminal case against Gwabeni for committing the same offence after he pointed a firearm at him on a farm in Ermelo, Mpumalanga.
Gwabeni, they said, was also arrested in Cato Manor, Kwazulu-natal, for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules in May 2020.
According to the police, Gwabeni had failed to confine himself to a residence during lockdown by wandering in public spaces, even though he was not rendering essential services.
He was found guilty on June 22, 2022, and fined R1 000.
Gwabeni was arrested together with six suspects for the murders of AKA and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.
Police have since established that before they were shot dead, someone sent R800 000 into Gwabeni’s FNB account at about 2 pm on February 10, 2023. And on the same day, at about 6 pm, telephone records at the police’s disposal show that Gwabeni and the six other suspects were around the businessman’s house.
They allegedly followed the rapper, in different cars, to Wish Restaurant, Durban, where AKA was shot dead.
Gwabeni allegedly hired some of those vehicles from a local businessman running a car rental company.
The NPA affidavit, submitted to the Eswatini government and used to detain two additional suspects, claims that Gwabeni paid each of the hitmen in that nation R133 000 after Forbes and Motsoane ‘s murder.
Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-general Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, said: “The NPA submitted it (the affidavit) through Interpol to request the authorities in Swaziland to help us catch these two. These two were arrested for other cases, including the Forbes case.”
The affidavit also suggests that one of the suspects, Lindokuhle Ndimande, who didn’t even have a bank account, opened a Standard Bank account the morning of the murder, and his share of R133 000 was deposited into his account the following day.
Ndimande, who was allegedly one of the spotters, followed the musician to Wish Restaurant on Florida Road, Durban, where he went to cut his hair in the salon inside the establishment. And he paid his bill at the restaurant from the same account.
On February 10, 2023 as Forbes and Motsoane were leaving the restaurant, two gunmen shot them dead.
The police are pinning Gwabeni as the mastermind of the hit and alleging that he coordinated everything.
Gwabeni, according to the police, followed Forbes from King Shaka International Airport to the Hilton Hotel in his grey BMW.
In a grey Polo that Gwabeni allegedly hired, the other suspects also arrived to loiter around the hotel.
When Forbes left the hotel to go to the salon, he was also trailed.
The five men, including Eddie Myeza, the first suspect to be arrested on April 22 last year, appeared in Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and five counts of attempted murder.
But nothing was said about the person who deposited the R800,000 for the hit.
The two Ndimande brothers are expected to be extradited from Eswatini soon.
Provincial police spokesman, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, couldn’t give definitive answers when he was approached for comment about the source of the R800 000.
The police are pinning Gwabeni as the mastermind of the hit
These two were arrested for other cases, including the Forbes case