- The murders of hip hop star Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and celebrity chef Tebello Motsoane have reignited the debate over illegal guns.
- Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said serious action is needed to strengthen gun laws.
- He was speaking after a visit to the Forbes family on Sunday.
Gauteng Prime Minister Panyaza Lesufi has called for serious action on illegal weapons following the ruthless public murders of hip hop star Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his close friend, celebrity chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.
“As a state, it is time for us to take a stand and address this issue,” Lesufi said.
In a somber interview outside the family’s Johannesburg home, Lesufi said strengthening gun laws was discussed at length in a recent lekgotla.
“Our lekgotla was very clear: we will approach the legislatures, but we need debate and serious action. If action cannot be taken, those with illegal weapons will take down those who abide by the law. And those with illegal weapons will play. God and decides who lives, who dies”.
This would apply across the board, from private security companies to armed illegal miners.
CLOCK | Friends and family of the late Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes arrive at his Joburg home to pay their respects
Forbes and Motsoane were shot dead outside a restaurant on Florida Road in Durban on Friday night.
The delegation of ANC officials who visited the star’s family included ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula and ANC Gauteng Provincial Secretary TK Nciza.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime noted in a 2021 report that guns are commonplace in criminal circles and that many illegal weapons come from civilian owners whose firearms have been lost or stolen from state institutions.
In 2016, for example, Police Colonel Chris Prinsloo was sentenced to 18 years in prison on more than 20 counts of extortion, corruption and money laundering related to the sale of some 2,000 weapons to gangsters in Cape Town. The weapons were supposed to have been destroyed.
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