For the families of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, the pursuit of justice now unfolds on a television screen. They were not in the Durban High Court on Monday as footage surrounding the final hours of their loved ones was shown in open court. Instead they followed the televised broadcasts while evidence about the deaths was examined in detail before the public.
That evidence, at its heart, concerns a question of public safety: how two men were shot dead outside Wish restaurant on Florida Road on 10 February 2023, and whether the justice system can reconstruct and answer for that violence. The state is continuing to present surveillance material in the trial of seven men accused of the killings. On Monday, the court’s attention stayed fixed on CCTV footage tracing Forbes’ movements in the hours before the murder.
Constable Rajen Sanders, a police technical detective, is guiding the court through recordings collected from locations across Durban. The material covers King Shaka International Airport, the Hilton Garden Inn, and establishments around the restaurant where Forbes and Motsoane spent their final hours. Investigators gathered footage from at least 17 locations, some offering multiple camera angles. Taken together, the recordings are intended to build a timeline of events and to establish whether the movements captured on camera support the prosecution’s case.
The state is using the material to trace the movements of people and vehicles allegedly connected to the killings. A central task is identifying the accused within the footage itself. Sanders previously identified accused number four, Mziwethemba Gwabini, in recordings from King Shaka International Airport. The state has also presented footage showing vehicles allegedly linked to the accused near locations visited by Forbes.
By contrast, the defence has challenged aspects of the identification evidence, placing the quality of the images and the basis for the witness’s conclusions at the centre of the trial. For the public following the case, that contest matters. The reliability of what a court accepts as proof determines whether the answer reached at the end of the trial can be trusted.
Sanders also identified accused number five, Lindokuhle Ndimande, in footage from inside the Wish restaurant, where he was seated behind Forbes and his entourage. Recordings shown in court captured patrons reacting after the shooting. Ndimande was seen standing up, appearing to ask what had happened before paying his bill. The state relies on this footage as part of its broader effort to establish the movements and alleged roles of the accused.
The recordings, however, must be considered alongside the rest of the evidence, and the court has yet to weigh them in full. What Monday’s proceedings made plain is that a killing on a busy Durban street left a trail of images across airports, hotels and restaurants, and that those images now form the backbone of the state’s effort to account for the deaths. For citizens watching, the trial is a measure of whether the institutions charged with public protection can piece together the truth from what the cameras saw. Further detail on the proceedings is available at https://mg.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-10-26-cctv-footage-takes-centre-stage-in-aka-and-tibz-murder-trial/