Bheki Cele Addresses Allegations of Handshake Snub Involving AKA’s Father. The veteran police figure has sought to clarify the situation surrounding a widely circulated courtroom video that suggested he was ignored by Tony Forbes, the father of the late rapper AKA.
During a session with the Ad Hoc Committee regarding his part in the highly publicized murder investigation, Cele noted that the circumstances may have been misunderstood and mentioned that he had already met with Forbes earlier that day.
As per Bheki Cele, they shared a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg and had arranged to meet again at the court. He explained that this context eliminated the necessity for a formal second greeting on camera when Forbes approached to shake hands with KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Cele also asserted that he remained in regular contact with the Forbes family throughout the investigation to keep updated on developments.
The clarification comes in response to a short video clip that gained significant attention in South Africa, showing Forbes greeting Mkhwanazi while seemingly overlooking Cele. The video gained traction again in July 2025, sparking renewed discussions regarding the relationship between the family and the former minister. Reports later indicated that another angle of the footage appeared to show a handshake between Cele and Forbes, adding complexity to the online narrative.
Cele also addressed criticisms regarding his response time to the scene in Durban where Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane were shot on February 10, 2023. He maintained that there was “no need” for him to be present at the scene as he was working with the KwaZulu-Natal team and maintaining communication with the family, a viewpoint that elicited mixed responses from the public at the time.
Regarding the investigation itself, Cele described it as particularly challenging, with detectives often feeling they were on the verge of a significant breakthrough that ultimately did not materialize. Public sentiment reflects this frustration two years post-assassination, a period characterized by viral content, courtroom incidents, and heightened scrutiny of police leadership.
The handshake incident has become a focal point of this scrutiny, even as new evidence and contextual information suggest a simpler explanation than the initial social media narrative indicated.
