Wish on Florida restaurant owner Philani Kweyama paid tribute to the fallen star Kiernan "AKA" Forbes and celebrity chef Tebello Tibz Motsoane during a candle-light prayer on Sunday.
About 100 fans and industry colleagues gathered outside the restaurant in Durban's popular Florida Road restaurant strip to remember the two who were gunned down on Friday night.
It was the happiest I’d ever seen Kiernan in the whole time I’d known him.
— Philani Kweyama on Kiernan "AKA" Forbes
CCTV footage of the incident showed Forbes embracing a friend and shaking hands moments before a man wearing a white sweater and a hat fires several shots at close range before running across the road and disappearing.
In what is understood to be his first public address following the shooting, Kweyama said he was AKA’s personal friend and had spent most of the day with him.
Kweyama, who is also an events coordinator and DJ, said AKA was the first ever artist he booked to his event 12 years ago.
“It’s so disheartening to see how this whole thing transpired. South Africa has lost great minds and a spectacular artist. [AKA was] an artist that changed my life and contributed a lot to who I am today.
"The first ever thing I did in Durban was book AKA 12 years ago. That event was called ‘Do It Sundays’ named after AKA’s first single, ‘Do it’,” he said.
“I loved AKA and that song so much that I created an event [and] had him there.”
Having spent most of the day together — from a haircut at his barbershop, to going for dinner and finally going to his restaurant — Kweyama said AKA was the happiest he’d ever seen him.
“Just to take you to his last moments, that was the happiest I’d ever seen Kiernan in the whole time that I’d known him. The way he embraced me when he came through, when he called me saying ‘I want to cut my hair at your new spot, I want to eat at your place'… he was there to support all of us, he was there to support Durban,” said Kweyama.
“He was so excited about being in Durban [even though] it was not the first time he was in Durban. About pushing his birthday… he had plans of doing a whole show here in Durban at ICC, a concert: he called it a redemption concert or something.
"I’m sad because it happened and even more sad that it happened here.”
The gathering was also addressed by Pastor Abraham Masinga who said crime was an “enemy” that was affecting Durban and South Africa as a whole.
“It’s more like a pandemic… our beautiful city of Durban is affected [on] a daily basis. Young people are scared of walking the streets of Durban. Businesspeople are suffering because of crime. Families are going hungry because of crime,” he said.
Mbusi “DJ Sox” Sokhela said the number of artists who have been killed in similar ways had them questioning whether the music industry is under attack.
“It’s sad considering it’s people we work with in the industry and it’s not the first time: [if] you look at DJ Sumbody, PK in Umtata and Andile the DJ in Pietermaritzburg. Those are all either a DJ or artist. It’s really sad because we don’t know whether the attack is on the industry itself,” he said.
Kweyama urged people who might have information to assist and vowed that it was an isolated incident that should not discourage people from visiting Durban and Florida Road.
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