South Africa’s influential Gcaba family has denied speculation that one of its members was involved in the murder of popular rapper AKA.

AKA, real name Kiernan Forbes, and his close friend, Tibz Motsoane, were shot dead outside a restaurant in Durban in February last year.

Last Wednesday, prosecutors in the trial of the rapper’s suspected killers implicated Sydney Mfundo Gcaba, a member of the Gcaba family, in the rapper’s killing.

A statement presented to court by the investigating officer alleged that one of Mr Gcaba’s companies sent over 800,000 rand (about $42,000) to the bank account of Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, one of the suspects being tried for the rapper’s murder.

Reports that the payment was made a day after AKA’s murder fueled suspicion that Mr Gcaba might have paid the suspects for the murder.