AKA murder trial CCTV evidence at the Durban High Court on Thursday, 22 October 2026, included a detective’s identification of an accused as the man seen following Kiernan “AKA” Forbes at King Shaka International Airport.
According to The Citizen, a police technical detective told the court he identified Mziwethemba Gwabini, accused number four, as the man who followed Forbes and his group at the airport on Friday, 10 February 2023. The detective said he compared hotel, restaurant and toll plaza footage with the investigating officer and told the court:
We then came to a conclusion. It was the same person.
What did the AKA murder trial CCTV show at the airport?
The airport footage was first presented on Monday, 19 October 2026, by a member of the airport’s surveillance team. It showed an adult man following Forbes towards the car rental counter. The State did not ask the analyst to identify him. Prosecutor Lawrence Gcaba told the court, about a man seen in the footage:
Another witness will later testify on the identity of that man.
How was the AKA murder trial CCTV identification challenged?
Gwabini’s counsel, Adv William Nicholson SC, objected on two grounds: that no affidavit had mentioned an identification, so it came as a surprise, and that the detective was not qualified to make one. Nicholson told the court:
He is not a facial ID expert.
Gcaba argued that the objection went to the weight of the evidence rather than whether it could be admitted, and compared the detective to an eyewitness in the case. On that point, Gcaba told the court:
The eyewitness’s observation is the witness’s investigation.
Judge Nomfundo Sipunzi allowed the evidence and said the court would assess its weight at the end of the trial. The ruling does not decide whether the identification is correct. All seven accused have pleaded not guilty.
What other CCTV has the AKA murder trial seen?
Footage screened in court on the afternoon of Thursday, 22 October 2026 showed a man resembling one of the seven accused leaving a VW Polo, entering a bar and restaurant where AKA was seated with friends, then walking to Wish restaurant.
A rental business owner testified that a Polo with the same registration plates as one seen circling Forbes’s hotel was leased to Gwabini.
What has the AKA murder trial heard since Day 1?
The trial opened on Monday, 5 October 2026, after pretrial proceedings in 2025. Witnesses have since described the evening at Wish, and a ballistics expert told the court that two firearms were used, with four cartridge cases linked to one gun and two to another.
On Tuesday, 20 October 2026, prosecutor Elvis Gcweka told the court that a surveillance analyst who testified on Monday, 19 October 2026, had received threatening messages, and he urged the media to be cautious when reporting witness evidence. Gcweka said:
After one of the witnesses testified yesterday, his face was put in the media.
The first stage of the trial is scheduled to run until Friday, 6 November 2026, with a break on Wednesday, 4 November 2026. More than 40 State witnesses are expected to testify at the Durban High Court.
Sources
- The Citizen, AKA and Tibz murder trial: Defence challenges CCTV identification of Mziwethemba Gwabini
- Townpress, AKA Trial: CCTV Identification Survives Defence Challenge
- Sunday Times, CCTV links accused to bar and restaurant AKA visited before fatal shooting
- TimesLIVE, King Shaka airport footage subject of heated debate in AKA murder trial
- TimesLIVE, Death threats after witness testifies in AKA murder trial
- EWN, AKA and Tibz murder trial: CCTV footage shows rapper being followed by man resembling one of the suspects
- ECR, AKA murder trial hears airport footage and ballistics evidence
- Bona, AKA and Tibz murder trial: Mziwethemba Gwabini identified in airport CCTV footage
- Swisher Post, AKA murder trial: Day 1 recap and where to watch it
- Swisher Post, AKA murder trial: Pretrial proceedings resume in Durban High Court
