Six people who are linked to the murder of South African rapper AKA were paid an amount of R800 000 for the hit

South African rapper Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes, and his longtime friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane were shot and killed outside Wish restaurant on busy Florida Road in Durban, SA, on February 10, 2023

Among the suspects in custody two siblings from Durban, SA, Siyabonga ‘Nxele’ Gezani Ndimande and Malusi ‘Mjay’ Dave Ndimande were arrested Feb 24, while in hiding the neighboring Kingdom of Eswatini

SA police said ‘Siyabonga was observed armed with a firearm approaching Forbes and shooting him in the head.’

Ndimande brothers allegedly, received R133,000, as their share of the R800,000 assassination bounty, tracked through the bank transfers to suspect’s accounts

Responding to a subpoena, Standard Bank confirmed that the recipient account belonged to Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande, and said account was opened on the morning of the incident by the beneficiary

Suspects taken into custody earlier include Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, Siphamandla Ngcobo, Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande

The seven in custody are facing charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition and money laundering. 

Prominent South African musician AKA [photo], and his longtime friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane were shot and killed outside Durban restaurant on February 10, 2023

A recent discovery into slain rapper Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes’s murder case revealed that six people who are linked to his murder were paid an amount of R800 000 to have him dead.
Prominent South African musician AKA and his longtime friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane were shot and killed outside Durban’s Wish restaurant on busy Florida Road on February 10, 2023.
The suspects were arrested over a few months, with two caught hiding out in a house in the neighboring Kingdom of Eswatini.
SA police have just announced the arrest of a seventh suspect, a 30-year-old South African man from KwaZulu-Natal province, accused of acting as a spotter.
The official release by SAPS revealed that among those in custody are two shooters, three spotters along with the coordinator who assembled and paid all the suspects and the organized of firearms and vehicles.
It is yet not clear if the person who executed the plan was the mastermind or someone was also giving him some calls.
Two of the suspects, brothers Siyabonga ‘Nxele’ Gezani Ndimande , 28, and Malusi ‘Mjay’ Dave Ndimande, 29, from Durban, SA, were arrested in a neighboring country, The Kingdom of Eswatini on Feb 24,while hiding out in a rental apartment in Mbabane.
The Ndimande brothers are allegedly, received R133,000, as their share of the R800,000 assassination bounty.

Fugitive murder suspects, brothers Siyabonga ‘Nxele’ Gezani Ndimande , 28, and Malusi ‘Mjay’ Dave Ndimande, were arrested hiding out in Mbabane in the Kingdom of Eswatini, where they were remanded after their Tuesday court appearance. They await extradition to Durban, South Africa, to stand trial

The brothers who have been charged with murder, made their first court appearance before Manzini Principal Magistrate David Khumalo on Tuesday.
The siblings who also face two homicide charges, having been accused of killing two South African businessmen, were remanded in custody pending the formal application for their extradition back home to South Africa.
An application for provisional arrest filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Elaine Harrison, at the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court detailed the assailants conspired to commit the crime and how much they allegedly, were paid for the hit on the entertainer and his best friend.
The seven in custody are facing charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition and money laundering. 
The South African Police Services, SAPS, earlier stated that AKA was the target of the hit and his friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane was a coincidence.
DPP Harrison told to the court that in February 2023, Forbes, a prominent South African musician, was hired by Philani Kweyama to perform at a club called Hugo in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Arriving in Durban on February 10, 2023, Forbes who was traveling with an entourage of his disk jockey, bodyguard, manager and photographer, were transported from King Shaka International Airport to Hilton Hotel.
However, while the traveling party were at the Hilton lobby, a grey VW Polo was spotted passing the hotel. It was later established that, the VW was a ‘spotter vehicle’ used by the assailants,’ Harrison’s application states.
The prosecutor said forensic analysis of suspects cellphone records, established that one Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, who hired the spotter vehicle, also followed Forbes and his entourage to the hotel in a BMW
Furthermore Harrison said, cellphone records placed Siyabonga and Lindokuhle in the vicinity of the Hilton Hotel at the time of the killings.
She alleged that at approximately 5:30pm, Forbes and his entourage were transported to WISH Restaurant, in Morningside Durban about 5.30 pm, where Forbes was met by he proprietor Kweyama, who according to the DPP, invited Forbes to have a haircut at his salon that was based inside his Restaurant.  
Forbes did just and returned to his party who had been sitting at the bar area for dinner with the addition of second victim Tabello Motsoane, who happened to be his best friend and previously served as his manager.
“It was established that a ‘spotter’ had been positioned inside the restaurant, watching Forbes. A subpoena in terms of Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 51 of 1977 was obtained for the ‘spotter’. 
Chasing the money trail, the information received after Standard Bank was subpoenaed established that the Standard Bank card belonged to Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande and that the said account was opened on the morning of the incident by Lindokuhle,” submitted the DPP.  
Harrison said that a video footage outside the WISH Restaurant revealed that the grey VW stopped outside the restaurant while Forbes was inside the restaurant. based The DPP that the clothing of the person who alighted from the vehicle and entered the restaurant was the same as seen in the video footage worn by an African male, identified as Lindokuhle Mhaliseni Ndimande.
The tracking report on the VW placed the vehicle in the vicinity of Hilton Hotel and later at the WISH Restaurant.
According to the DPP, sometime later, a white Mercedes-Benz C200 was also spotted passing the restaurant, before parking approximately 100 meters from the restaurant.  “At approximately 10:10pm, Forbes and his entourage, accompanied by Motsoane.
“While Forbes is chatting with his friend and hugging him. one suspect wearing a cap is seen crossing Florida Road and approaching from behind,” submitted Harrison.
At the same time, another suspect, wearing dark clothing and a cap, is seen crossing over Florida Road and positioning himself between the two vehicles. Harrison said Siyabonga was further observed armed with a firearm approaching Forbes and shooting him in the head.’
According to the DPP, Lindokuhle maintaining his position, fired shots simultaneously in the direction of Forbes and Motsoane, the DPP said. Forbes fell while Motsoane fled back into into the restaurant before he fell.
The shooters immediately flee the scene towards the earlier mentioned white Mercedes-Benz, jump in and the getaway car drives off at a high speed,” according to the documents. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene> Exhibits recovered during the arrests include four vehicles, firearms linked to the the murders of AKA and Motshoane and empty cartridges.

Police Minister Bheki Cele acknowledged that the killings of AKA and his friend, which was caught on CCTV cameras, disturbed many people in the country, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Investigators recovered “Two spent 9mm nickel cartridges were found close to the body of the first deceased. Four spent 9mm cartridges cases were found in the vicinity of where the second suspect, Gwabeni, had positioned himself. Video footage from inside and outside the restaurant was secured.
Postmortem reports ruled the cause of death for both men was consistent with gunshots wounds,” the court documents stated
When detectives tracked the getaway car near Cato Crest informal settlement, it was obvious attempts had been made to torch the car on firer, according to the court documents.
One of the suspects also purchased airtime from a tuck shop near the point where the Mercedes was abandoned.
Investigators said Siphamandla Ngcobo, was the person who recharged his phone with the airtime purchased from the tuck shop. After Ngcobo who was arrested on March 29, 2023 has been charged with robbery, with aggravating circumstances.
His cellphone records were compared with phone records at the scene of the murders on the night confirmed that Ngcobo had been in communication with Gwabeni, Lindani Zenzele Ndimande.
Lindani Ndimande’s cell phone records also placed him in the vicinity of the Florida Road where the murders had taken place,” the prosecutor said in her application.
They appeared at a magistrate’s court in Eswatini on Tuesday. Plans are under way to extradite the duo to face murder charges in South Africa.
Back in South Africa, DPP Harrison having established that Ndimande brothers, at the time of killings were residing South Beach, Durban, warrants were issued for the suspects on two counts of murder. Extradition was ordered, since the fugitives had been arrestedin the Kingdom of Eswatini.