Mbaks campaigning on AKA’s family’s doorstep shows he has zero shame

Of all the ugliness highlighted by the murder of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, nothing beats the spectacle of Fikile Mbabula election campaigning on the doorstep of the hip-hop star’s grieving family.

“Have you no shame? No decorum? No sympathy? No sense of decency? Hamba, man! Sis,” was the most fitting of the Twitter condemnations.

Mbalula, who still holds the transport portfolio, certainly wasn’t there in his ministerial capacity. He was there for the limelight, as always, and to claim AKA for the ANC, saying the slain musician had been supportive. That is ill-timed, crass electioneering of the lowest sort.

WATCH: AKA’s family addresses claims of friends’ involvement in shooting

Bear in mind that Forbes family were quoted in Sunday media as saying: “In this time of grief, we appeal to your compassion, for space and time to congregate as family to decide on the upcoming days.”

No such luck with the likes of Mbalula and Panyaza Lesufi around. Mbabula was stating the obvious when he speculated, “it was a hit, AKA was assassinated”. From available footage it clearly was indeed a hit, an arranged killing.

Mbalula expressed confidence in the ability of the police to solve the murders of AKA and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.

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In fact, the SA Police have a poor record of solving murders, whether high-profile or not. It’s nearly nine years since Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa was murdered. The lack of any conviction is due largely to poor police work.

Going further back, police botched the investigation into the murder of Anni Dewani in Cape Town in 2010. In the early stages, Bheki Cele, who was then national police commissioner, described suspect Shrien Dewani as a “monkey who came all the way from London to have his wife killed here”.

That statement alone would have damaged the prosecution’s case. When retracting his faux pas in 2011, Cele told a radio station: “I’m completely legally illiterate.” Still is. Now he’s minister of police and crime is at an all-time high.

Releasing crime stats in November last year, Cele said 7 004 people had been murdered in South Africa in the previous quarter. That’s 77 murders per day. Murders were up by 13.6%.

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On the same day as AKA and his friend Tibz were slain, it is likely another 75 other people were also murdered, unheralded. Just statistics.

The police stats horror story includes 13 police stations burgled between April 2018 and March 2021, with firearms and rounds of ammunition stolen. Many police stations are guarded by private security companies.

Less than 20% of murder investigations in this country even result in a trial date being set, never mind conviction. So, there are low expectations of a successful prosecution in AKA’s case.

This despite efforts by some media to solve the crime by linking the killing to the controversial death of AKA’s fiancé after a 10-storey plunge from a Cape Town hotel room in 2021.

In front of TV cameras and with tame media in tow, Mbalula declared: “We believe in the capacity of the police to dig deep and get the killers.” Nonsense. Statistics contradict his faith in the police.

But Mbalula’s job includes persuading people that his party is governing well. Which is ridiculous.

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