Johannesburg – Authentic Stones, the firm which made rapper AKA’s tombstone, has put an end to the speculation of theft or foul play regarding the disappearance of AKA’s tombstone from his grave.
The rapper's tombstone, which was unveiled at his grave on the day of his funeral, has since been removed.
Twitter user @tndaba sparked panic after visiting the rapper’s grave to find that the tombstone was not there.
This led to speculation from fans regarding the whereabouts of the tombstone.
“What happened to #AKA’s tombstone?”
What happened to #AKA's tombstone @TheCitizen_News ? 😳🤔😱 pic.twitter.com/cFAFXy6GUP
— Thulani Ndaba (@tndaba) February 23, 2023
Authentic Stones operations manager Josh Kenp confirmed to The Citizen that the tombstone was not stolen, but taken back by the stone mason because it could not be installed on the same day as the burial.
He said the tombstone was removed to prevent it from sinking into the ground and the family was aware that the tombstone was removed after the burial.
Kenp also explained that the tombstone was only at the funeral on Saturday for unveiling purposes and was removed afterwards.
“Once the burial is over, we still need to lay a concrete foundation, then we install the tombstone on top of the concrete foundation.
“Otherwise, if we (had) installed the tombstone on Saturday, the tombstone would have sunk,” said Kenp.
He explained that tombstones were not always erected on the day of the funeral as cemeteries had rules that allowed for tombstones to be installed three to six months after the funeral.
“The cemetery gave us special permission to install the tombstone of the late legend immediately, this is why we will install it back again, either this week or next week,” said Kenp.
IOL