By John Ikani
A request made by a provincial government to grant a state funeral to popular South African rapper AKA, who was murdered last week has been turned down by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Gauteng’s premier, Panyaza Lesufi, had written a letter to the President, requesting that slain rapper Kiernan Forbes, who was popularly known as AKA, be given a state funeral.
According to Mr. Lesufi, his request for the funeral was denied on Thursday.
He clarified that he had not requested for state funds to be used for the funeral.
Instead, he had requested that the rapper’s coffin be draped with the national flag, and flags be flown at half-mast in honour of the artist.
Mr. Lesufi stressed that there should be some form of honour for the rapper, given his international and national stature.
“We felt that for a person of his international stature, there must be some form of honour, and we want to clarify it is not a financial contribution,” he said.
The funeral of the rapper is scheduled for Saturday.
