The man who usually guarded AKA in Durban was not the one on duty the night the rapper was shot. That detail came from AKA’s manager, who told a Durban court on Tuesday that Anwar Khan had handed the job to a colleague because he was unavailable.
The manager said he had arranged security for AKA’s planned stay in the city and had been in contact with Khan, who owned Pentagon, the security company the team relied on in Durban. According to Eyewitness News, a colleague took the February 10, 2023 assignment instead.
That testimony pulls the question of AKA’s protection right into the middle of a murder trial. The rapper, born Kiernan Forbes, and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane were both shot dead outside Wish restaurant on Florida Road.
People were asking about security almost as soon as the news broke. In a March 2023 interview with Annika Larsen, Khan said he would have kept the rapper’s movements tight, limited to the airport, the hotel and the show, with no extra stops added.
“In my absence, protocol was breached. Kiernan was called and invited to go to Florida Road’s Wish restaurant, which he accepted,” Khan said at the time. He added that the invitation should have gone through the road manager.
Those comments reflect Khan’s view of what should have happened, not what the court is deciding. The case in front of the judge concerns seven men accused of planning and carrying out the killings.
Police have painted a picture of a hit that was in motion long before anyone sat down at Wish. At a February 2024 briefing, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said a spotter tailed AKA from the airport to his hotel and then on to the restaurant.
Investigators described a crew with clearly divided roles. There were allegedly two shooters, two spotters, one person supplying weapons and getaway cars, and a coordinator who organised the team and handled payments.
That version of events sits awkwardly next to the security debate. If the attackers were following him from the moment he landed, it is fair to wonder how much a different bodyguard or a stricter schedule could have changed.
Earlier on Tuesday, the court heard from a club promoter who had collected AKA and his group at the airport. He described seeing Forbes on the ground and Motsoane wounded while people scrambled to get help.
All seven accused pleaded not guilty when the trial opened on October 5. They face charges including conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of murder, attempted murder and firearm offences.
The National Prosecuting Authority has previously set November 6 as the end of this block of the trial. Until then, the way AKA was protected that night looks set to stay firmly under the spotlight.
