SAPS on AKA alleged killers: ‘We must ensure they don’t kill more people in South Africa’
Brothers Siyabonga and Malusi Ndimande, accused of killing rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, are being extradited from Eswatini to face murder charges in South Africa.
Image: Screengrab/SAPS
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has dismissed claims by the alleged killers of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane that their safety would be at risk if they were extradited to South Africa.
Earlier on Tuesday, IOL reported that members of Interpol South Africa had departed for the Kingdom of Eswatini to collect the two suspects in the high-profile murder case.
Brothers Siyabonga and Malusi Ndimande were arrested by the Eswatini Royal Police after Forbes and Motsoane were gunned down outside Wish restaurant on Florida Road in Durban in February 2023.
The brothers have spent months fighting their extradition, arguing before Eswatini’s courts that they feared for their lives if returned to South Africa.
Addressing journalists at King Shaka International Airport on Tuesday, SAPS spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said police would ensure the brothers remain behind bars.
“I don’t think they should fear for their safety. It is us who must ensure that they stay behind bars, where they don’t kill more people in South Africa,” said Mathe.
She said SAPS would formally charge the brothers in three separate cases where they have been positively linked.
“There could be other cases, investigations are still ongoing. It is them that we must make sure that they don’t ever see daylight. We must make sure they remain behind bars, and they get to be convicted for the crimes that they have committed.
“We strongly believe one of the two brothers is the one that actually pulled the trigger that killed AKA. We do have the firearm that killed AKA, but we are still searching for the firearm that killed Tibz. So we have overwhelming evidence that places them on the crime scene of all these cases. It is us, the communities that must fear them, not them fearing for their lives.”
Mathe said the SAPS regards the Ndimande brothers as “contract killers, professional hitmen and dangerous and callous criminals.”
With seven men now arrested, police believe all suspects linked to the murders of AKA and Motsoane are in custody.
The two brothers accused of murdering rapper AKA and his friend in Durban are set to return to South Africa after dropping their fight against extradition from Eswatini
Image: Supplied
Earlier, Mathe confirmed that a high-risk Interpol team was travelling to Eswatini to collect the brothers.
“I can confirm that a high-risk team has left South Africa, they are on their way to the Kingdom Mswati International Airport where they will be meeting officers from Interpol Eswatini where the handing over will then take place between Interpol South Africa, our officers, and Interpol Mbabane,” said Mathe.
“They will then escort the two brothers. Only upon arrival at the King Shaka International Airport will our Interpol officers then hand over to the lead investigator in this case, who will then execute a J50 warrant of arrest.”
The brothers are wanted in South Africa in three cases:
The murder of a taxi boss in Amanzimtoti in 2022, where they face five charges;
The murders of AKA and Tibz in February 2023, where they face 11 charges; and
The murder of a taxi boss’s driver and the attempted murder of his wife, where they face about 11 charges.
“The lead investigator will execute the J50 warrant of arrest right here at the airport. He will place them under arrest officially in South Africa. He will then process them, take fingerprints, take the warning statements, take them through informing them of their arrests, the reasons for the arrests, the charges that they are facing and obviously give them the right of reply through their attorneys and so on,” said Mathe.
After being processed, the brothers are expected to be taken to court soon after their arrival.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News