South African police say they have arrested six people over the murder of one of the country’s hottest rappers, Kiernan Forbes, popularly known as AKA.

AKA, 35, was shot dead on February 10, 2023, while walking with a friend outside a popular Durban restaurant hours before he was to perform at a nearby club.

“Six people have been arrested that will appear in court on Thursday,” Police Minister, Bheki Cele, told a press conference in Durban, South Africa, on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.

Cele said the oldest suspect was 36 and that others could be added to the list.

Provincial police commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, told reporters that the “mastermind”, two gunmen, two spotters and “the organiser of firearms and vehicles” were all in custody.

South African rapper AKA shot dead

Several of those arrested were linked to separate murder cases, he said, and two had been held in the neighbouring landlocked country of Eswatini.

Police worked with Interpol and the Eswatini government to arrest two people “hiding” there and extradition procedures would be started, AFP quoted the commissioner as saying.

Mkhwanazi said police had a suspicion of the motive but would not discuss the matter.

It was revealed that the rapper had been followed from his time of arrival at Durban airport to the restaurant.

South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates with a number of entertainment stars among the victims.

In 2007, reggae singer, Lucky Dube, was dropping off his teenage son at a relative’s home when gunmen shot him three times during a failed attempt to steal his car.

The southern African nation recorded almost 84 murders a day between October and December, according to police statistics released this month.

The Star