Witness places rapper AKA at balcony moments after fatal fall of fiancée Anele Tembe

On the second day of the Anele Tembe inquest, Witness 9, who chose not to be identified, became the first witness to place rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes at the balcony immediately after his fiancée, Anele Tembe (22), fell from the 10th floor of Cape Town’s Pepperclub Hotel on the morning of 11 April 2021. 

Witness 9 was a guest at the hotel and described seeing Forbes rushing towards the balcony moments after Tembe plunged to her death.

On Wednesday, 9 September 2026, he testified that he saw Forbes leaning over the balcony railing before hearing him shout: “Oh my God, oh my God.” 

The evidence is significant because it begins to account for the critical seconds immediately after Tembe’s fall – where Forbes was, what he did and how he reacted.

It also provides a point of comparison with Forbes’s own account to police: that he and Tembe had argued, that she threatened to jump, but that he did not take the threat seriously. He said he went to the bathroom and when he came out, Tembe was no longer on the balcony.

Forbes was gunned down in Durban with Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane in February 2023. Seven men are due to face trial for their murders in October 2026.

Tembe’s death was initially treated as suicide. The inquest, which began on Monday, 7 September, is examining the circumstances surrounding her fatal fall and whether the evidence supports that conclusion.

Witness 9 was the final witness to testify on Wednesday. Before his testimony, the court heard from Witness 8, a female hotel guest, and Witness 7, the Pepperclub’s general manager. All three chose not to have their identities disclosed. 

Of the nine witnesses who have testified since the start of the inquest on Monday, 7 September, Robert Stefanutto is the only one who agreed to have his name published.

Read more

‘She blinked at me’ — witness recounts finding Anele Tembe alive after fall

September 7, 2026

‘Oh my God!

Witness 9’s evidence carries particular significance because of his vantage point. He was staying in Room 1101, giving him a bird’s-eye view of Room 1004 and its balcony.

His evidence provides a potentially important link in the emerging timeline of the morning, placing him in a position to hear the sounds associated with the fall and, within seconds, seeing Forbes emerge from the room and move towards the balcony.

But he did not hear the argument that previous witnesses referred to at the inquest.

On the morning of 11 April 2021, Witness 9 said he woke at about 7.30am and was on his way to the bathroom when he heard what he described as screaming, followed by a loud bang.

He immediately went outside onto his balcony, leant over the railing and saw a naked woman lying on the pavement below. Then he saw Forbes.

“I then saw AKA coming out of the apartment, looking as if he was looking for something. I saw him looking over the balcony and then shouted, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’” he told the court.

The witness said he knew Forbes as AKA and had seen him several times at the hotel.

He recalled gesturing with one hand to his ear to indicate to Forbes that he would call an ambulance.

The timing of the sequence is significant.

Asked how much time passed between the scream and seeing Forbes emerge and move towards the balcony, he said it was “a couple of seconds”.

That places Forbes at the balcony almost immediately after Tembe’s fall.

But the evidence does not answer the more fundamental question: what happened inside Room 1004 in the moments before she went over the railing?

The tequila order

Another unusual detail emerged from Witness 8, a hotel guest who was having breakfast with her husband at about 9am.

She testified that she overheard a telephone call at reception from someone on the 10th floor ordering tequila shooters for Room 1005, which Forbes’s team was also occupying.

“I heard the person on the other side of the phone who ordered tequila shooters saying it is for room 1005,” she testified.

The order was made shortly after Tembe’s fall and struck the witness as unusual.

The alcohol was never delivered.

Witness 7, the hotel’s general manager, testified that he stopped staff from delivering it after learning it had been ordered for Forbes and his entourage.

“His team told me that they ordered alcohol for the room. I said I think it is not something we should entertain, especially with knowing everything at the moment. So I instructed the staff not to deliver the wine,” the general manager said.

The manager later went to the room to explain the decision to Forbes and the others.

Asked whether Forbes appeared unhappy, he said: “He wasn’t upset, but he was not happy with that decision.”

The evidence still to come

The emerging evidence is beginning to fill in the sequence of that morning. But the central gap remains the events inside Room 1004 before Tembe fell.

The inquest has yet to hear forensic evidence that could help test the competing accounts, including the bloodstain analysis and autopsy findings.

Those findings could become critical in determining whether the physical evidence is consistent with what witnesses have described, and with Forbes’s account of the final moments before Tembe went over the balcony.

According to reports, Forbes and Tembe’s relationship was at times tumultuous, and Forbes had said Tembe had previously threatened to jump off a building.

Tembe family chooses silence

As the evidence unfolds, Tembe’s father, Moses Tembe, told Daily Maverick on Wednesday that the family had consciously decided not to comment publicly during the inquest.

“We also respect the feelings of the survivors of both families, and we think it is inhumane to say anything that upsets or adds trauma to survivors of the families,” he said.

Moses said the family believed the process should be allowed to unfold without public commentary.

“The process has got to unfold and it’s an open public process,” he said.

The family’s lawyers provide daily summaries of the proceedings, allowing them to follow the evidence without becoming part of the public debate.

For the Tembe family, however, the approach remains one of restraint – allowing the evidence presented in the open proceedings to speak for itself.

The inquest has been postponed to 19 October 2026 owing to witness availability and for SAPS to compile the relevant reports. DM