Influential South African Rapper, AKA Shot Dead

AKA, one of South Africa’s top rap artists, was shot dead outside a restaurant in the eastern city of Durban, according to his family.

Kiernan Forbes, 35, has received numerous South African awards, as well as nominations for a Black Entertainment Television award in the United States and an MTV Europe music award.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved son,” his parents, Tony and Lynn Forbes said in a statement posted on AKA’s Twitter account. “Our son was loved, and he loved back.”

On Friday night, he and another man were shot as they walked from a restaurant to their car.

“They were allegedly approached by two armed suspects who walked to them from across the street and shot the victims at close range,” according to police.

Forbes was scheduled to perform at a club in Durban on Friday night, according to Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

The motive for the shooting was unknown, according to police, and an investigation was underway.

Beauty Dlulane, who chairs a parliamentary committee on arts and culture, condemned AKA’s murder, describing it as a “hit”.

She called on authorities “to protect South Africans from this new scourge of what seems to be contract and revenge killings where performing artists and DJs seem to be targeted”.

Oupa Sefoka, known as DJ Sumbody, a star of the house music subgenre amapiano, was killed alongside his bodyguard in a drive-by shooting in Johannesburg last November.

One of Africa’s most beloved international artists was killed by gun violence in South Africa in 2007. Lucky Dube, a reggae singer, was dropping off his teenage son at a relative’s house when he was shot three times at close range during an attempted hijacking.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Many people own licensed firearms for personal protection, and there are many more illegal firearms on the market.

Prabhnoor Kaur