AKA murder LATEST: ‘We just need to get that particular person’ – Cele

More than 10 months has gone by since the “execution-style” killings of award-winning rapper Kiernan “AKA” Jarryd Forbes and his close friend and celeb chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane shocked the nation.

The South African Police Service (Saps) has come under heavy fire by the public, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and even criminologists for not having been able to crack the high-profile murder case.

ALSO READ: AKA’s murder: ‘Cele is one big failure, he has to go’, says expert

AKA murder investigation: What Cele said…

In his latest effort to dodge the bullets, Cele provided a progress update of the murder investigation to the media in Cape Town on Friday.

According to the police minister, the investigation was now at an advanced stage and it was just “a matter of time” before the culprits would be brought to book.

“The fact that the getaway car was found, the gun itself has been found, some of the witnesses I’m told are in protection order, means it’s a case that has really covered some ground. We just need to get that particular person,” Cele said.

Cele’s recent radio update on AKA case: Spot the difference…or not?

Apart from his reference that the police “just need to get that particular person”, the rest of his update is unfortunately an echo what the minister told Metro FM talk show host Faith Mangope two weeks ago.

“We have found the getaway car, the gun has been found. They have found two people that I know for sure, those people have been kept very safe because they know very well what happened that particular day,” Cele revealed in the interview.

“Those two guys [the witnesses] must be kept very safe because they know what happened on that particular day. Even beyond what happened on that day – about the networks that led to the unfortunate murder of AKA,” he added.

Malema shoots down Cele’s AKA murder update

Cele’s Metro FM interview was slammed by EFF leader Julius Malema as “rubbish”.

“He said the same rubbish about Hillary Gardee, the bastard. He said some people involved included high-ranking leadership of the EFF.”

ALSO READ: ‘They must be kept safe’- Bheki Cele on witnesses who allegedly helped find crucial evidence in AKA murder case

What happened on that fatal night when AKA and Tibz were gunned down?

 AKA died after he was fatally shot at pointblank range in the back of his head in Florida Road, Durban, on Friday, 10 February. Durban police confirmed the death of the 35-year-old rapper on the scene.

According to IOL, the Mass Country rapper was reportedly standing outside the Wish Restaurant, in Durban’s bustling Florida Road, at about 10pm when he was approached by a gunman who shot him “execution style” before fleeing the scene on foot.

According to media reports, there was a second gunman on the scene and Motsoane, who was with his friend the time, was also tragically shot and killed while the rapper’s bodyguard was wounded.

AKA was due to perform at Yugo nightclub, in Durban, later that evening. 

Was AKA’s murder a hit?

In June this year, City Press reported that the police were allegedly investigating members of a family involved in taxi operations, as well as the so-called construction mafia in KwaZulu-Natal.

The publication quoted sources in the security cluster who claimed that AKA and Motsoane were followed from King Shaka International Airport to the popular restaurant.

“The police have already obtained the footage that reveals that there was surveillance by the [alleged] hitmen who later carried out the hit outside Wish restaurant in Durban.”

“This family is powerful and feared,” one of the sources revealed.

Another source went as far as to claim that one of the suspects was also spotted at the crime scene after AKA’s fiancée Anele “Nellie” Tembe plunged to her death from the 10th floor of Cape Town’s Pepperclub Hotel in the early hours of 11 April 2021.

“The person allegedly met with one of the suspects who has been arrested on a different charge and was [allegedly] involved in the shooting,” they said.

ALSO READ: Police make breakthroughs in AKA murder case – report

The unsolved case of Nellie Tembe: ‘Elements of suspicion of a murder’

The Western Cape police stated in December 2021 that it has wrapped up what it labelled a “suicide investigation” into Tembe’s death.

Western Cape police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi, however, told City Press at the time that there were “elements of suspicion of a murder” and that the case was referred to the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) for a decision.

After investigations, the NPA declined in June 2022 to institute any prosecution for Tembe’s death, but in May this year, it made a U-turn on its decision, stating that it will reinvestigate the death of KwaZulu-Natal businessman Moses Tembe’s daughter.