Pretoria - President Cyril Ramaphosa has declined the Gauteng government’s request to give slain rapper, Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes, an official provincial state-funded funeral.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi had approached the president seeking he declare an official provincial funeral for the multi award-winning musician AKA. The declaration would have enabled greater financial support towards events surrounding the funeral of AKA and also would have seen flags been flown at half-mast from the declaration.
An official from government would have also been mandated to attend the funeral, with the state essentially forming part of the official burial.
Lesufi said even though his request was unsuccessful, the provincial government would continue to support the family in other ways.
“We will provide security support and ensure that the family feels our support and comfort. We felt that the person of this international stature, had to get some form of honour.
“We want to clarify that it wasn’t a financial contribution, but we wanted to drape the coffin and ensure that the flag flies at half-mast,” Lesufi said.
He said they would nonetheless provide burial space for AKA at the Heroes Acre Cemetery and they would drape his coffin with the South African flag. The Gauteng government would also provide security through law enforcement agencies during funeral proceedings.
“We feel that a person of AKA’s stature must receive some form of honour, and we want to clarify that it is not a financial contribution. We will drape the coffin, provide a gravesite at Heroes Acre Cemetery, with flags flying at half mass. We will ensure that his funeral is befitting,” said Lesufi.
Lesufi received a backlash from Twitter users when he requested for the president to make the declaration.
In conclusion, Mampintsha didn’t deserve a state funeral and AKA certainly DO NOT DESERVE a state funeral. We can’t give rappers state funerals because they are your faves🥹🥲 that is not what state funerals are for
— Sanda Radebe (@Simply_Sanda20) February 16, 2023
Rather use that money to help children that are at risk. The Forbes family doesn’t need help to pay for their son’s funeral. State money is actually tax payers’ money. Stop abusing us and our hard- earned taxes.
— IsaDrennan001 (@IsaDrennan001) February 15, 2023
Meanwhile, in December, the KwaZulu-Natal government reportedly paid over R320 000 towards the funeral costs of Mandla “Mampintsha” Maphumulo’s funeral, despite receiving a backlash from the public.
At the time, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube defended the decision, and later hit back at claims R50m had been spent on the funeral.
Dube-Ncube later clarified that over R320 000 had infact been spent, with the Office of the Premier contributing R170 000, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture contributing R50 000 and the eThekwini Municipality contributing R100 000.
“As a province, within our policy, we have decided that a megastar of this magnitude deserves our support as he exits the stage and departs for the last time to the world beyond,” said Dube-Ncube at the time of Mampintsha’s death.
Um, why is the government paying for a citizen’s funeral? A citizen who was not an official, not killed by any accident, catastrophe, natural event, or anything that would warrant the spending of taxpayer’s money? @PresidencyZA Please explain and provide supporting legislation.
— Hulisani Ravele (@HulisaniRavele) December 28, 2022
AKA will be laid to rest on Saturday in a private funeral.
His memorial will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Friday is open only to members of the public who have obtained tickets. It will also be streamed online.
IOL