Don Design has yet to surface on social media after the death of his close friend Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes.
Don Design disappears amid speculation on AKA death
The renowned creative director and producer was part of the group that huddled outside Wish restaurant, on Florida Road, Durban, on that fateful evening of Friday, 15 February 2023, when AKA and his close friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane were viciously gunned down in what’s now been observed as a coordinated hit.
Leaked CCTV footage that captured the gory double murder mysteriously surfaced on social media and internet sherlocks, fuelled by the wild conspiracy theories spread by Nota Baloyi, zoned in on Don Design’s body language moments before the incident.
With no formal experience in human behavioural studies, or better yet, proof of qualification in criminal psychology, countless keyboard detectives took off with wild speculations about Don Design’s supposed involvement in AKA’s murder plot.
Videos from unverified accounts surfaced on social media with frame-by-frame footage of Don Design’s behaviour in that leaked CCTV footage.
The Monday To Monday streetwear founder was one of the first people to exit the restaurant, shortly after 22:00 that fateful evening.
The CCTV footage showed that, whether he knew it or not, he may have caught a good glimpse of the second shooter, who stood only a few feet away from him, as AKA and the rest of the crew came out of Wish.
Unaware of the events that were about to transpire, Don Design was seen scrolling through his phone, then pocketing it seconds later, before gunshots rang off around him, as he was about to make his way back to the group.
Observing the grainy CCTV footage, Don Design was clearly within the second shooter’s line of sight and surviving the ambush was, many believe, a miracle.
Forbes family comes to friends’ defence
Despite growing speculation around Don’s involvement in the double homicide, AKA’s family has stood by the DJ’s side.
Speaking to the media, on Tuesday, the Prada rapper’s father Tony Forbes made it abundantly clear that rumours about his son’s friends’ alleged culpability in his death were very irresponsible and dangerous.
“We do not condone what is being said about his friends and those making dangerous statements. We We appeal to them to cease from doing so,” Forbes said.
Don Design has since protected his Twitter account to prevent outsiders from spamming his page. The creative director of AKA’s merchandise brand also blocked users from commenting on his old Instagram posts.
How Don Design met AKA
According to Africa News Agency, Don Design’s friendship with AKA went as far back as 2014 when, after spamming the rapper with several pitches for creative collabs, he finally got the green light to produce the music video for Kontrol featuring Da LES, which became one of the lead singles of Supermega’s sophomore album, Levels (2014)
Don’s creative inputs to AKA’s works spurred an intense friendship between the two artists and years later, their chemistry yielded critically acclaimed projects like Supermega’s collabs with Head Huncho, his personal ‘Relax’ streetwear and several other music-related projects.
This was Don Design’s last picture with AKA before his death:
AKA will be laid to rest in a private ceremony this weekend, a day after his memorial service, which will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Friday, 17 February 2023.
Tibz’s funeral will also be private, open only to family and close friends. AKA’s former manager’s life will be celebrated at a memorial service which will be live-streamed on Thursday, 16 February 2023, from the Sacred Heart College in Observatory, Johannesburg.
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