A payment reference reading “six-months salary” is now part of the record in the trial over AKA’s killing.
Bank witnesses spent the final week of this session walking the Durban High Court through transfers made a day after the rapper and his friend were shot dead. Then the whole thing paused, with the trial adjourned on Thursday, November 5 until April 2027.
All seven defendants remain in custody. The state will resume its case from April 12 through May 14, TimesLIVE reported, after a session that had been scheduled to wrap on November 6.
AKA, born Kiernan Forbes, was killed alongside Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane outside Wish restaurant on Durban’s Florida Road on February 10, 2023.
The seven accused men have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of murder, attempted murder and firearm and ammunition offenses.
The trial opened on October 5, and prosecutors have moved quickly since. KwaZulu-Natal NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the session “has seen the state lead evidence from more than 20 witnesses.”
She listed “video footage, vehicle-tracking data, ballistic evidence and financial evidence” among what the court has heard.
The money trail took center stage at the end. Witnesses from FNB and Capitec described transfers involving defendant Mziwethemba Gwabeni and other accused men, including a payment of more than R800,000 to Gwabeni. TimesLIVE reported references such as “dividends,” “taxi loan,” “car repair” and “six-months salary.
The defense pushed back on the paperwork. Under cross-examination, lawyers pointed to mistakes in Capitec records, including account-opening dates, and a bank witness acknowledged the errors.
Gwabeni has disputed the payments since the bail hearings, saying the money was for consultancy work.
In a 2024 affidavit read by his lawyer, he called the allegations “defamatory against myself and more importantly for Mfundo Gcaba,” EWN reported.
The family of Gcaba, a Durban taxi businessman, has also denied that its dealings with Gwabeni had anything to do with the killings.
Before the bank records, the court heard about two rental cars. Cartrack fleet administrator Carel Rothmann presented tracking data for a gray Volkswagen Polo and a Hyundai Grand i10, which moved through the same areas before splitting up on the night of the shooting. The Polo was later tracked heading toward Florida Road.
Defense lawyers asked for time to study that data and consult an expert before challenging it, Mail & Guardian reported. That challenge hasn’t come yet, so the long break gives both sides room to prepare.
Earlier in the trial, a police witness identified Lindokuhle Ndimande in the restaurant’s security footage. Ndimande has previously denied acting as a lookout, saying he was simply waiting for a date.
For fans still waiting for answers about one of South African hip hop’s biggest names, the gap until April is another long stretch of silence from the courtroom. Prosecutors say they have more evidence to bring when the court sits again.
