Culture

South African police release three suspects linked to rapper AKA’s murder

Published

2 months ago

March 30, 2023

The South African police say three of the five men arrested in Cape Town over their alleged involvement in the murder of rapper Kiernan Forbes, who was known popularly as AKA, have been released.

Cape Town Police spokesman, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, said on Thursday that only one of the suspects was expected to appear in a Durban Magistrate’s Court on a charge of car-jacking court.

South African Attorney Advocate, Annelene van den Heever, who flew in from Gauteng early on Thursday morning to represent the accused, said the three men were released late on Wednesday evening, more than 48 hours after they were initially arrested in Belhar.

“They have since gone into hiding as their names have been shared on social media, and they fear for their safety,” she said.

Speaking before Thursday’s appearance, van den Heever said the CAS number that the men were arrested on is not correctly registered on the SAPS system.

“The police had no reasonable cause to arrest my clients. They allowed the narrative of my clients being linked to the AKA investigation and didn’t comment at the time. Then yesterday, they issue a statement,” van den Heever said.

On Wednesday, the KwaZulu-Natal police had appealed for patience as they continued with investigations into the murder of Forbes who was shot dead in drive-by shooting in front of a Durban restaurant in February.

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Culture

Burna Boy becomes most streamed Nigerian artiste

Published

1 day ago

June 3, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Grammy-award-winning Nigerian singer, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, is now the most streamed music artiste on all streaming platforms after overtaking Wizkid who was the undisputed leader.

In its current release, Top Chart Africa posted that the “Love, Me, Damini” exponent who dropped a new single “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” on Friday, topped the list of “most streamed Nigerian artistes on all visible streaming platforms with 8.47 billion combined streams, closely followed by Wizkid with 8.39 billion streams.”

The leading pop culture platfurn which focuses on African creatives, takes a poll of the most streamed act every month with a release at the end of the month.

The talented singer, songwriter and record producer who is also set to break the attendance record with a sold out London Stadium for his “Top of the World” on Saturday night, also dusted the likes of Davido who 3.76 billion streams, Rema with 3.67 billion streams and CKay who polled 3.28 billion streams to complete the top five most streamed artistes.

Other Nigerian artistes who made the list include Tems, Omah Lay and Asake who made his debut on the chart.

Culture

Egyptian Coptic Christians celebrate entry of ‘Holy Family’ into Egypt

Published

2 days ago

June 2, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Egyptian Coptic Christians on Monday, June 1, celebrated the historic entry of the “Holy Family” after travelling from Palestine through Sinai and into the Delta, before moving far south to Assuit, where they spent almost four years before leaving.

The Egyptian government which announced and promoted the celebration, said the project would restore and renovate 25 holy sites that were stopping points for the Holy Family during their stay in Egypt.

The Egyptian government said in the statement that stops had been fully restored and openned for visitation in various governorates such as Cairo, Kafr al-Sheikh, Al-Gharbeyyah, Al-Sharqiyyah, Al-Beheirah, and Al-Minya, while other important stops would be renovated for the celebration next year.

“This national project is part of the government’s efforts to preserve such historic sites, benefit local communities, and promote religious tourism,” the statement said, noting that the festivals related to the “Journey of the Holy Family were added to the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List in 2022.”

The entry of the Holy Family to Egypt has become a national celebration of the Coptic Orthodox Church with the Fraihi rite on the 24th of the month of Bashans of the Egyptian calendar, which is the first of June of each year, as celebrated in the first centuries AD.

The journey of the Holy Family which had Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus, according to the Coptic Christians, took them three and a half years where they had to make several stops.

“All three of them, Jesus who was two years old at the time, his mother, the Virgin Mary and his father, Joseph the carpenter,” the church history said.