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South African police links prominent businessman to AKA’s murder

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South African Police have linked prominent businessman, Sydney Mfundo Gcaba, to the murder of rapper, Kiernan Forbes, also known as AKA, who was gunned down together with his close friend, Tibz Motsoane, outside a Durban restaurant in February last year.

According to a statement by the police, Mfundo who is a nephew to former President Jacob Zuma, allegedly paid more than R800,000 into the account of one of the suspects who were arrested last month for the double murder.

Mfundo Gcaba is a member of the wealthy Gcaba family which controls numerous other companies in addition to an enormous taxi empire in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

The police said its investigations have revealed that the money was paid into the account of the accused on 11 February, a day after the murder of AKA and Tibz, alleging that the money was paid as proceeds for the murder of Forbes.

In an affidavit deposed by lead investigating officer, Kumaran Pillay, the police alleges that “one of the Gcaba brothers paid a sum of more than R800,000 into one of the bank accounts of the accused.”

“Durban businessman and taxi business funder, Mziwethemba Gwabeni, who’s also one of the accused in the matter, allegedly received the money into his business bank account the day after the murder on 11 February,” the affidavit said.

“The money was paid via the business bank account of Bright Circle Pty Ltd, a company Gcaba is the sole director of. Gwabeni proceeded to pay his co-accused an amount of R133,000 each thereafter.”

State prosecutor, Advocate Elvis Gcweka, who also addressed a press conference on the outcome of investigations thus far, said that cellphone records gathered showed that prior to the money being paid, Gwabeni and Gcaba spoke.

“Shortly after this call, an amount of R803,455 is transferred into the bank account of the applicant.

“The reference for the payment was made under “consults” but investigations so far have been unable to establish a business relationship between them.

“The money was then allegedly divided equally among the seven accused,” the prosecutor said.

Culture

Collabo with Burna Boy enabled me buy house for my mum— Mozambican DJ Tarico

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Mozambican disc jockey and sound-producer, DJ Tarico, has credited Nigeria’s Afrobeats sensation, Burna Boy, with his sudden wealth which enabled him buy a house for his mother.

DJ Tarico attributed a collaboration with the Grammy Awards winning “African Giant” as the turning point in his story and said he would forever be grateful to the Nigerian star.

Speaking with the BBC African Voice on Saturday, DH Tarico said when he came up
with a particularly energetic beat one day, he couldn’t have predicted how it would change his life and that of his two friends.

He said one of his friends, Nelson Tivane, a songwriter and vocalist, came up with the lyric “Yaba Buluku” which was “inspired by the sound of coins jangling in a pocket”, while the other friend, Preck, “belted out that lyric with his gravelly, powerful voice,” with the song becoming an instant hit in their country.

“After we concluded the song, we went to a rural zone and we put a car with a big sound there, and we connected the song on the car and we saw many people dancing and ask ‘who is the owner of this song?’ Then we knew this song was going to be big!” Tarico recalls.

He said he was surprised that
none other than Burna Boy, realised the strength of “Yaba Buluku” and jumped on the remix, a move which had a massive impact on Tarico, Tivane and Preck.

“We were travelling all over Africa. Too many big artists were asking us for features. People started to know our face outside of Mozambique. We became internationals.

“And money! I bought a car, land and a house for my mother.”

The trio who now call themselves “Yaba Buluku Boyz”, have dropped their debut album, “Donsa”, on Friday, and are hoping to ride on the success of the collaboration to reach greatet heights in Africa and globally.

“Donsa”, according to DJ Tarico, “is high-energy, danceable amapiano, and features big African names including Ghana’s dancehall King Shatta Wale, Timaya from Nigeria and Harmonize from Tanzania,” he said.

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African men run away from single mothers— Joselyn Dumas

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Veteran Ghanaian actress and media personality, Joselyn Dumas, has lamented the fact that most African men shy away from getting married to single mothers due to the added responsibilities they will be saddled with.

The actress who made the assertion in her recent podcast, “Keeping it Real with Joselyn Dumas, The Perfect Picture”, opened up on the challenges of many single mothers who are struggling to find a partner because of societal biases.

In the podcast, Dumas who shared a personal story of a male friend whom she said refused to settle down with a lady because she had a child.

According to her, the friend named Anthony, firmly stated that it wasn’t his thing to be with a ‘born one’ or ‘born two’.

“He said B1, B2, I’m not in and I said to myself, ‘this is the reason why a lot of single mothers are single with their children.

“Now his reason was, why am I going to raise somebody’s child? That’s not my bloodline. He doesn’t have my DNA in him. Why am I now going to help someone’s bloodline grow? What about mine?” she said.

Dumas who is a single mother, noted that Anthony’s mindset is a “reflection of the views of a larger majority of people who don’t want to have meaningful relationship with single mothers.”

She also criticised what she termed as the double standard in society’s views on raising non-biological children, arguing that it should not be seen differently from adoption.

“I have a child but these men won’t even ask you, they don’t even care why you have a child. You’ve had seven miscarriages when you got married. You meet a guy, you were dating and you got pregnant, are you going to abort the baby because you aren’t married?

“He doesn’t want the child, are you going to throw the child away? No! You can raise the child. It takes a village to raise the child, so even if you don’t have a job, you will get support. This is part of the sacrifice you have to make regardless of what has happened,” she said.

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