Anele Tembe Inquest: Two Voices Missing

The Anele Tembe inquest opened in Cape Town while the Durban High Court prepares for the AKA murder trial. Seven accused, including two extradited from Eswatini, face charges as South Africa confronts intertwined tragedies of Tembe’s fall and Forbes’ killing.

The inquest into the death of Anele Tembe began on Monday in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court, more than five years after the 22‑year‑old fell from the 10th floor of the Pepper Club Hotel.

The Absent Witnesses

What hangs heavy over Courtroom One is that neither of the two people who were in that hotel room are available to testify. Anele is dead. AKA is dead.

Anele Tembe died on the pavement on Loop Street in the early hours of April 11, 2021. She was the daughter of Durban businessman Moses Tembe, young, beautiful, engaged.

Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, the man she was engaged to, was gunned down outside a Florida Road, Durban restaurant in February 2023.

Disputed Versions

Throughout, AKA maintained Anele had jumped. Her family never accepted that version. Moses Tembe has consistently disputed any suggestion that his daughter took her own life.

The magistrate must now decide what happened in that room without either of them. The inquest will ask: when did Anele die, how did she die, and was her death caused by negligence or unlawful conduct?

The NPA previously declined to prosecute, sending the matter to inquest instead. Evidence from hotel staff, police, forensics, and messages will be examined. The magistrate warned that some testimony will be sensitive for both families.

AKA Murder Trial: Durban High Court

While the inquest unfolds in Cape Town, the Durban High Court is hearing the murder case of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.

Seven accused face charges of murder, conspiracy, and firearm offences.

Two brothers, Siyabonga and Malusi Ndimande, were extradited from Eswatini earlier this year to face trial.

The case resumes with a pre‑trial on 13 August 2026, and the trial itself runs 5 October–8 November 2026, with a second phase scheduled for April–May 2027.

So far, the accused have appeared in court, bail applications have been denied, and the matter has been set down for trial with witness lists and forensic evidence prepared.

When Love Kills

The courtroom battles over Anele Tembe’s fall and AKA’s murder have spilled into public life, but they are also captured in Melinda Ferguson’s When Love Kills. The book traces how Forbes’ life unraveled after his relationship with Tembe, detailing the heated arguments, alleged substance abuse, and the toxic obsession that defined their time together.

Published in 2024 under Ferguson’s imprint, the book contains court records, family testimonies, media reports, and timelines of both cases. It reconstructs the night of Tembe’s death at Cape Town’s Pepper Club Hotel and the assassination of Forbes in Durban less than two years later. More than a biography, it is a chronicle of grief and violence, showing how love and fame collided with tragedy, leaving two families and a nation searching for answers. TQ