DURBAN, South Africa – South African police said on Wednesday they have arrested seven people over the murder last year of one of the country’s hottest rap artist, Kiernan Forbes, known as AKA.

The 35-year-old musician was gunned down on February 10 while standing with a friend outside a popular Durban restaurant hours before he was to perform at a nearby club.

On Tuesday night, police minister Bheki Cele announced that six people had been detained at different times between April 22, 2023, and February 24, 2024. The men had initially been charged with other murders while police pieced together their evidence on the AKA murder.

On Wednesday, KwaZulu Natal police said a 30-year-old man had been arrested, becoming the seventh suspect.

“Five suspects will appear at the Durban Magistrates Court on February 29, 2024,” a police statement said.

Two other suspects are awaiting extradition from Eswatini where they were hiding.

Cele, speaking during a late night news conference in Durban, 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.

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

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

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.

“These six suspects played different roles during the operation. We have the coordinator, who is basically the master of everything. He is in custody. We have two shooters. We have two spotters — one of the spotters was inside the restaurant observing, watching Mr Forbes and his friends — as well as the organiser of firearms and vehicles, because the vehicle used as a getaway and firearms used to shoot, they were all hired,” Mkhwanazi said on Tuesday.

One of the spotters is reported to have followed Forbes from the airport on arrival, to his hotel and the Wish on Florida restaurant. This person was also responsible for gathering the team of hitmen and the resources, and paying them “their rewards” when the job was done.

South African police also recovered four vehicles, a firearm and cartridges that were picked up from the crime scene that were linked with another crime scene where another shooting happened.

The first vehicle — a Mercedes-Benz — was recovered on March 6, 2023, and the firearm that was used to shoot Forbes was recovered on April 22

AKA was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed South African hip-hop artist with several critically-acclaimed albums under his belt.

His murder came less than two years after the death of his fiancée, Anele “Nellie” Tembe, who died from injuries sustained when she fell from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Loop Street, Cape Town, in 2021.

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.

Africa’s most industrialised nation recorded almost 84 murders a day between October and December, according to police statistics released this month. – AFP