Days before the burial of popular South African rapper AKA, police released new information about his shooting.
AKA is to be buried on Saturday, and a public memorial service will be held on Friday 17, afternoon at the Sandton Convention Centre in the main city, Johannesburg, his father, Tony Forbes, says.
He added that the focus is on giving their son “a dignified send-off”, and he has thanked the many well-wishers whose support is “making it easier to cope”.
Now, South African police say evidence gathered so far leads them to believe the killing AKA was an assassination.
KwaZulu-Natal police chief Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said the gunman had approached AKA from behind and shot him at close range in the side of the head.
A second gunman then started firing to deter onlookers from responding to the “hit”, he added.
One of these rounds killed AKA’s friend, celebrity chef Tibz Motsoane.
The shooting occurred outside a restaurant in the coastal city of Durban on Friday 10, night.
But police say they know the identities of the “two shooters”, and are still checking the identities of all of those at the scene in Durban that night.
Investigators are now using the suspects’ data to piece together their communication and movements in the run-up to the killings, Gen Mkhwanazi has told the Newzroom Africa TV channel.
“We know that the aim was to first kill AKA, and the second suspect could have killed any other [person] because they fired a couple of shots – so anybody who was on the way could have been hit,” he says.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says he is confident the police will crack the case but is urging anyone with information on the murder to come forward.
“We can’t make speculations, but we know, it was a hit, AKA was assassinated,” he said.
“We believe in the capacity of the police to dig deep and get the killers and also why it happened.”
Mbalula has called anyone with information to come forward.