AKA and Tibz trial: ex-cop tells Durban court how he arrested alleged gun supplier in Umlazi shack

A former South African Police Service officer has told the Durban High Court how he led the team that arrested Siyanda Eddie Myeza, one of seven men standing trial for the murders of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.

The officer, who previously served in the SAPS Tactical Response Team and left the service earlier this year, testified that Myeza was arrested in Umlazi’s L Section in April 2023 on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition. As IOL reported on 12 October, the arrest came roughly two months after Forbes and Motsoane were shot dead on Florida Road in Durban on 10 February 2023.

He told the court that he and another TRT member were on night shift on 21 April 2023 when the Crime Intelligence Unit passed on information about a suspect said to be in possession of a firearm. The team went to Myeza’s home, where the officer said they found him inside a shack. The door was slightly ajar but appeared to be touching the floor. After knocking and identifying themselves as police officers, the team forced the door open.

The officer confirmed he had worked with a TRT member who testified in the trial the previous Thursday.

The seven accused are Lindokuhle Thabani Mkhwanazi, Lindani Zenzele Ndimande, Myeza, Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, Lindokuhle Lindo Ndimande and brothers Siyabonga Gezani Ndimande and Malusi Dave Ndimande. They face charges in connection with the two killings.

Monday’s sitting was meant to start at 9.30am but lost several hours to disruptions. Proceedings were first affected by a power outage. The court was then told that Myeza’s counsel, advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa, and advocate William Nicholson SC, who represents Gwabeni, had become stuck in a lift on the way to the 12th floor where the trial is being heard. The court was subsequently informed that the prisoner’s lift was also out of service. The matter was stood down until the lifts were operational.

For readers following from outside KwaZulu-Natal, the setting matters. The Durban High Court sits on the 12th floor of the city’s main justice building, and the lifts that carry accused persons from the holding cells below are separate from those used by the public, counsel and the bench. When either set fails, the day’s roll slips, and the effect falls hardest on witnesses who have travelled in, on families in the gallery and on the accused themselves, who wait in cells for a court that cannot reach them.

The trial continues. Forbes and Motsoane were killed on a Durban street in the early evening of 10 February 2023, in a shooting that was captured on camera and circulated widely within hours. The case has been one of the most closely watched in the country since, and the two families have sat through years of postponements to reach this stage.

The evidence now before the court is the state’s account of how the accused were identified and arrested, not a finding of guilt. Myeza’s arrest, as described by the officer, was on a firearms and ammunition charge, and the court has yet to rule on any of the counts against any of the seven.