City Press has seen a letter sent to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape by legal representatives of Anele Tembe‘s family, where explosive claims were made about AKA‘s alleged involvement in their daughter’s death.
Tembe family believes AKA killed Anele – Here’s why
Earlier this week, the NPA in the Western Cape revealed that its decision to halt all pursuits of prosecuting a suspect in the death of Anele, who fell to her death from the 10th floor of a Cape Town boutique hotel, in April 2021.
The Western Cape’s NDPP Nicolette Bell explained that the decision was supported by the outcomes of an investigation conducted by the South African police and prosecutors.
The Tembe family was informed of this decision in June 2022, during a high-level meeting between their lawyers, public prosecutors and case detectives.
In an explosive letter that recently leaked to the press, not only had Tembe’s family indicated their intentions to challenge the decision, but lawyers also highlighted several inconsistencies in the investigation into Anele’s death.
The forensic evidence found in the hotel room
According to the Tembe family, the police blatantly ignored the presence of blood in the AKA and Anele’s hotel suite and more shockingly, it’s alleged the Company rapper had what they strongly believe were upward scratch marks on his back, an indication “that Forbes threw her over the balcony.”
In the Tembe family’s version of events, the rapper, after a heated argument, allegedly flung Anele Tembe over his shoulder and threw her off the balcony, a claim that has yet to be corroborated by facts contained in the police inquest.
To further substantiate this version of Anele’s death, Tembe’s lawyers claimed that the 22-year-old’s fatal fall was not consistent with a person who willingly lept from the balcony.
“The deceased landed at a distance that is consistent with a person that was pushed. She landed approximately five and a half meters away from the building, whereas if she had jumped on her own, she would have landed approximately two meters away from the building,” the lawyers claimed.
A star eyewitness that tried to save Anele Tembe’s life
According to AKA’s version, which he first introduced in an exclusive interview with journalist Thembekile Mrototo for BarLeader TV in May 2021, he was in the hotel bathroom when Anele Tembe allegedly jumped to her death.
The rapper claimed he and Tembe had been in Cape Town on a work assignment that fateful weekend, after what he described was a tough week in their relationship.
However, an argument that broke out following their return to the hotel at approximately 23:30 that evening escalated beyond his control. After trading verbal blows, to which Tembe retorted by threatening to take her own life, AKA claimed he reception to alert security about the boiling tension in the room.
Somewhere, between then and hiding in the bathroom, Anele Tembe allegedly jumped off the balcony.
Lawyers representing the Tembe family rubbished AKA’s version of events in the scathing letter.
According to the family, timestamps on existing video footage of her 10-storey fall, examined alongside records of the call AKA made to reception, show that the rapper only contacted security after Tembe’s fatal plunge.
Also, the lawyers wrote, Tembe was alive for at least 20 minutes before she died. In fact, the letter revealed, a crucial witness, Rob Stefanutto, who was holidaying in Cape Town at the time, was first to jump to Tembe’s aid and perform CPR.
Before witnessing the gory death, Tembe’s lawyers claim Stefanutto had allegedly heard the heated argument between AKA and Anele.
“The lady, who later turned out to be Anele Tembe, was heard desperately asking the attacker, being male, to leave her alone. Moments thereafter Stefanutto heard Anele Tembe drop, he then administered CPR on her,” the letter claimed.
Shockingly, lawyers of the Tembe family revealed that case detectives only learned about Stefanutto at the June 2022 meeting where the NPA’s decision to halt prosecution in Anele’s death was conveyed.
AKA’s behaviour after Anele’s death
With no trace evidence supporting Anele’s supposed suicide, not even her fingerprints on the balcony’s balustrade, the family’s lawyers doubled down on their belief that AKA was allegedly responsible for the 22-year-old’s death.
“He did not attend to his injured fiancé, who remained alive for approximately 20 minutes. He did not go to perform CPR on her instead Stefanutto, a complete stranger, cared enough to administer CPR and call emergency services, in an attempt to save Anele Tembe’s life…
“Forbes cleaned up the hotel room. There was blood on the towels… Forbes partied and drank at the hotel with his entourage following the passing of his fiancé,” the lawyers wrote.
The explosive letter surfaced, rather coincidentally, after Anele Tembe’s father, Moses, shot down speculation of his involvement in the rapper’s death.
In a statement to Tshisa Live, Moses said he was gravely concerned about murmurs involving him and his family in the AKA murder plot.
“These accusations are untrue and without substance. After having to deal with the tragedy of the untimely passing of our daughter, this senseless crime has taken a further emotional toll on us. I respectfully request the individuals making these baseless statements to refrain from doing so,” Moses said.
AKA and his former manager and close friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane, were killed outside a popular Durban restaurant on Friday, 10 February 2023.
Leaked CCTV footage showed how two gunmen pulled off what many believe was a coordinated assassination.
The unidentified killers seen in the grainy footage were still at large when this article was published, and Durban investigators had not surfaced with fresh leads.
In the Anele Tembe case, the NPA has halted its prosecutorial process to allow the police time to complete their inquest into the 22-year-old’s death.
AKA’s life will be celebrated at a memorial service held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Friday, 17 February 2023.
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