KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has confirmed that the investigation into the 2023 murders of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and celebrity chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane remains active, suggesting that more arrests could follow soon.
Latest Court Appearance and Investigation Status
General Mkhwanazi’s update came on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, shortly after the brief court appearance of brothers Siyabonga Gezani and Malusi David Ndimande. The two were recently extradited from Eswatini and appeared at the Durban Magistrate’s Court, where their case was postponed to November 25 for legal consultations.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, Mkhwanazi confirmed that the police are actively consolidating evidence that could lead to additional suspects.
Following the Money Trail
Mkhwanazi explained that the seven suspects already identified played varying roles, including a coordinator who paid the group using a business bank account.
The police’s current focus is on a financial trail that is believed to connect the alleged coordinator, Mziwethemba Gwabeni, to other individuals who may have funded or influenced the operation.
“What we can tell you is that part of these seven, we did explain before that they play different roles. We know that there is a head who coordinated everything, and that person paid the entire group after the job, but he used his bank account to transfer money, and that’s a business account that he used,” he said.
Looking “Up the Ladder”
The Commissioner added that investigators are now scrutinizing the linkages between the coordinator’s business account and other partners who transferred money into it. The ultimate goal is to uncover whether higher-level figures were involved in orchestrating the assassination.
“We are busy looking at those to establish exactly who above him might have requested, perhaps, to coordinate this operation. But until we have that evidence, there’s still a lot of investigation work that needs to be done…” Mkhwanazi stated.
These comments have renewed public hope that the ongoing investigation will finally reveal who ordered the high-profile hit on AKA and Tibz back in February 2023.
