The murder trial of slain South African rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his close friend, celebrity chef and businessman Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, took another significant turn on Friday, 23 October 2026, as the Durban High Court continued examining surveillance footage from the day the pair were killed.
The court heard evidence from South African Police Service technical detective Constable Rajen Sanders, who identified one of the accused, Mhlaliseni Ndimande, in CCTV footage showing a man following Forbes inside Wish restaurant on Durban’s Florida Road shortly before the fatal shooting.
The footage formed part of the State’s attempt to reconstruct the movements of the people allegedly involved in the murders, from Forbes’ arrival in Durban to the moments leading up to the shooting outside the restaurant on 10 February 2023.
The latest evidence adds to an increasingly detailed account of the hours before the killings, with investigators presenting recordings from various locations, including the airport, the hotel where Forbes was staying, the roads travelled by his entourage and the restaurant where he spent his final evening.
Seven men are standing trial in connection with the murders. All seven have pleaded not guilty, and the allegations presented by the prosecution remain to be tested against the defence cases.
Accused identified in restaurant footage
A central development on Friday was Sanders’ identification of accused number five, Mhlaliseni Ndimande, in footage from inside Wish restaurant.
The State showed the court recordings in which a man could be seen following Forbes around the establishment. Prosecutor Advocate Lawrence Gcaba asked Sanders to identify the individual after referring to the detective’s familiarity with the accused and the footage he had examined.
Sanders identified the man as Ndimande.
The identification is significant because the prosecution is seeking to establish whether Forbes was being monitored before he was shot outside the restaurant.
Ndimande has previously acknowledged that he was at Wish restaurant on the night of the murders. However, he maintains that he was not involved in the killings.
His presence at the restaurant and the State’s interpretation of the surveillance footage are therefore important distinctions in the case. Being captured at the scene does not, on its own, establish participation in a murder.
The prosecution will have to establish how the footage, witness testimony and other evidence support its allegations against each accused.
What the court heard about the grey BMW and VW Polo
Friday’s proceedings also continued the examination of vehicles that investigators believe may have been used to monitor Forbes and his entourage on the day he was killed.
In earlier footage presented during the week, a grey BMW was seen travelling behind the rented Hyundai Staria used by Forbes and his group after they arrived at King Shaka International Airport.
Sanders previously testified that he believed accused number four, Mziwethemba Gwabeni, was driving the BMW seen following the group near a tollgate.
On Friday, the court was shown further footage of the BMW passing the hotel where Forbes was staying in Umhlanga.
The State also drew attention to a grey Volkswagen Polo with a spare tyre fitted to one of its rear wheels. The vehicle appeared in footage near the hotel and was later seen outside Wish restaurant.
The court heard that the Polo passed the hotel twice. In the restaurant-area footage, a man wearing a white T-shirt and a black bucket hat was seen getting out of the vehicle.
The details were notable because a car rental owner had previously testified that he had rented a grey VW Polo with a spare tyre fitted to a rear wheel to Gwabeni, whom the State has implicated in the alleged operation.
The prosecution is seeking to connect the vehicles, their movements and the people captured in the recordings to the broader sequence of events preceding the shooting.
However, the evidentiary significance of each vehicle and the identities of the people shown in the recordings must be assessed alongside the complete evidence before the court.
How investigators are reconstructing the day
The surveillance evidence is part of a wider investigation into how Forbes’ movements were allegedly monitored on 10 February 2023.
Earlier in the trial, the court heard that investigators collected footage from more than 15 locations, including King Shaka International Airport, the Hilton Garden Inn, other places visited by Forbes and his entourage, and locations along their route to Florida Road.
Sanders testified about how the recordings were obtained, preserved and secured for use in the investigation. He told the court that footage was downloaded onto USB devices, placed in exhibit bags and booked into Berea Police Station.
He also explained the precautions taken to protect the recordings against tampering.
The material is being used to reconstruct the movements of individuals and vehicles during the hours before the shooting. Investigators are examining whether people appearing in different recordings can be connected through their clothing, movements, vehicles and other identifying details.
The State’s case is that the killings were not an isolated confrontation but the culmination of a coordinated operation targeting Forbes.
The defence, however, is entitled to challenge the reliability of the identifications, the interpretation of the recordings and the conclusions investigators have drawn from them.
The court will ultimately have to determine whether the evidence establishes the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
What happened on the night AKA and Tibz were killed?
Forbes and Motsoane were shot outside Wish restaurant on Florida Road in Durban on 10 February 2023.
Forbes, one of South Africa’s most influential hip-hop artists, had travelled to Durban ahead of his planned appearance at Yugo nightclub. Motsoane, a well-known entrepreneur and celebrity chef, was his friend and business associate.
Earlier testimony from musician and event organiser Lusaso Ngcobo provided the court with an account of the pair’s final hours.
Ngcobo testified that he had known Forbes for more than a decade through the music industry. He said he visited a hair salon on Florida Road that evening before Forbes arrived with his entourage.
The group later went to Wish restaurant, where they spent time together and discussed Forbes’ plans, including his forthcoming album, Mass Country, which was released posthumously on 24 February 2023.
Motsoane joined them at the restaurant.
Ngcobo told the court that, as the group left the establishment, he heard a loud bang that initially sounded like fireworks. He ducked before realising that the situation was dangerous and that the sound may have been gunfire.
He said he went back towards the restaurant corridor and later checked on Motsoane before noticing Forbes lying on the ground.
Ngcobo recalled Forbes repeatedly saying that he could not breathe as people attempted to help him.
The testimony has offered the court a witness account of the immediate aftermath, complementing the surveillance recordings being used to reconstruct the events leading up to the shooting.
Seven men face charges in the double murder
The prosecution has brought its case against seven accused, whose alleged roles are being examined through witness testimony, surveillance footage, forensic evidence and other investigative material.
The accused are Lindokuhle Thabani Mkhwanazi, Lindani Zenzele Ndimande, Siyanda Eddie Myeza, Mziwethemba Gwabeni, Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande, Malusi Dave Ndimande and Siyabonga Gezani Ndimande.
The charges in the main matter include conspiracy to commit murder, the murders of Forbes and Motsoane, attempted murder and firearm- and ammunition-related offences. Additional charges have also featured in the broader proceedings.
The State alleges that the accused were involved in different aspects of the operation that led to the deaths. The precise role attributed to each man must be considered separately, and none can be treated as guilty before the court reaches a verdict.
The proceedings have also involved disputes about whether certain charges should be heard together or separately, particularly those involving Myeza and an earlier shooting in Mayville, Durban.
The court ruled that the charges relating to the separate Mayville incident should be dealt with separately from the main trial concerning Forbes and Motsoane. Evidence about the earlier shooting has nevertheless featured in the proceedings because investigators have presented a connection involving a firearm.
The firearm evidence and the Mayville connection
Earlier testimony in October placed forensic evidence at the centre of the prosecution’s case.
A ballistics expert told the court that cartridge cases recovered from the Florida Road crime scene were linked to a firearm used in a May 2022 shooting in Mayville, in which taxi operator Gift Khanyile and his bodyguards were targeted.
The earlier incident is relevant to the investigation because the State has relied on the alleged firearm connection as part of its broader account of the events surrounding the murders.
The court has also heard fingerprint evidence relating to a vehicle recovered near the Mayville shooting scene. A police witness testified that fingerprints lifted from the vehicle matched those of Myeza.
These are allegations and forensic findings presented by the prosecution, not a finding that any accused is guilty of the murders. Their weight will depend on the full evidence and any challenges raised by the defence.
Myeza’s Mayville-related charges are being dealt with separately, while the main proceedings continue to focus on the deaths of Forbes and Motsoane.
What happens next?
The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday, 26 October 2026, when the State is expected to continue presenting its evidence.
The prosecution’s case remains focused on building a timeline of the day Forbes and Motsoane were killed, using surveillance recordings and testimony from investigators and other witnesses.
The court will need to consider the identification of individuals in the footage, the movements of the vehicles, the forensic evidence and the testimony of those who were with Forbes and Motsoane that evening.
For the families and supporters of both men, the proceedings represent a significant stage in a case that has remained in the public eye since the killings in February 2023.
The trial has now moved beyond the initial court appearances and pleas into the detailed presentation of evidence. However, the surveillance footage and witness accounts heard so far form only part of the prosecution’s case.
The seven accused remain entitled to the presumption of innocence. The ultimate question before the court is whether the State can prove its case against each accused beyond reasonable doubt.
