South Africa: rapper AKA shot dead leaving a restaurant

BET À DAY

One of South Africa's most popular rappers known by the stage name AKA, Kiernan Forbes, was shot and killed leaving a restaurant in Durban, southeast of the country, his family announced on Saturday. 

A 35-year-old South African hip-hop star, he had won numerous awards in his country and was selected once for an MTV Europe Music Award, and several at the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards in the United States.

South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world, sadly known for a particularly high crime rate. A murder is committed there every 19 minutes, according to the latest official police statistics. wrote AKA's parents, Tony and Lynn Forbes, on their Twitter account.

He was killed on Friday evening, along with another man by his side, as they had just left a restaurant and were walking towards their car.

“They were allegedly approached by two armed suspects who crossed the street towards them and shot the victims at point-blank range,” the police said in a statement.

Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola called for the “arrest” of the authors. “The biggest deterrent is that criminals know they have a high chance of being caught, prosecuted and convicted.”

The singer from Cape Town (south) was supposed to perform on Friday night, according to Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

The motive is currently unknown and the police have opened an investigation .

About six hours before his death, the artist had been promoting on Twitter his upcoming album 'Mass Country,' which was due out at the end of the month. 

“I'll be doing videos, web chats, exclusive clips and lots of great stuff before February 24th. See you soon on the net !!! “, he wrote Friday afternoon.

MP Beauty Dlulane, who heads a parliamentary committee on arts and culture, asked the authorities to “protect South Africans against this new scourge what are contract and revenge killings, which seem to target artists and DJs”.

Frequent shootings

In November, Oupa Sefoka, known as “DJ Sumbody” and house music figure Amapiano, was killed along with his bodyguard by gunfire from a vehicle in Johannesburg.

In 2007, reggae singer Lucky Dube was shot three times by armed men as he dropped off his teenage son with a relative.

Shootings occur regularly in South Africa. South, a country with one of the highest homicide rates in the world, fueled by gang violence and alcohol.

South Africa experienced a series of shootings in 2022 that killed nearly 20 people in bars in working-class suburbs of Johannesburg and the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg.

At the end of January, eight people were killed at a birthday party in a house in the poor suburb of the port town of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth, South).

Many people have firearms permits in personal protection, but even more illegal weapons are in circulation.