Anele Tembe inquest: AKA ordered tequila, hotel said ‘NO’

A manager at the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town testified how they refused to serve rapper AKA – real name Kiernan Forbes – and his entourage tequila shooters after the death of his fiancée Anele Tembe just hours earlier. The testimony was heard during an inquest at the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Anele fell to her death from the 10th-floor balcony on 11 April 2021. According to witnesses, the couple had argued in their hotel room moments before her death.

Tragically, AKA was shot and killed by masked gunmen in Durban two years later.

ANELE TEMBE INQUEST: AKA DENIED TEQUILA SHOTS

On Wednesday, the inquest into Anele Tembe’s death continued, with the court hearing how a male hotel manager had refused to serve tequila shooters to a room occupied by AKA and his entourage.

The group placed the order at around 9:00 am, a little over an hour after Anele had fallen off her 10th-floor hotel balcony to her death on the pavement below. AKA did not go down to the ground floor to see Anele, but had remained in a neighbouring hotel room. A witness came to Anele’s aid, testifying how he had comforted and prayed over her until emergency services arrived. 

The manager – whose identity was one of multiple witnesses the court ruled should remain private – told the court that the group had subsequently ordered alcohol, but he had refused to serve it.

He said, “I said it was not something we should entertain. They were not happy about the restrictions, and I had to speak to them.”

ANELE TEMBE INQUEST:

A hotel manager has told the inquest into Tembe’s death that staff stopped serving alcohol to her fiancé, the late rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, after she fell to her death from the hotel’s 10th floor @NtuthuzeloNene

— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) September 9, 2026

He said AKA and the others were unhappy with the restriction, but that the rapper did not become notably angry or upset.

A hotel guest corroborated the claims, testifying that “it did not make sense”, given what had happened moments earlier in the hotel room.

THE GRUESOME HOTEL ROOM

Also heard during the inquest was a detailed account of the evidence found in AKA and Anele Tembe’s hotel room.

According to a police investigator, the room was a “mess”, and evidence found suggested a physical struggle. This included a bloodied champagne bottle, blood on bed linen, towels and on a wall. 

The room was also strewn with cans and cigarette butts. 

A chair near the balcony was also found, with the investigator claiming that AKA had stated that Anele had climbed over the railing and jumped to her death. However, the Tembe family lawyer questioned why Anele’s fingerprints were not found on the railing.

The investigator shared that AKA had insisted on making a police statement shortly after Anele’s fall.

He told the court of his interaction with the rapper: “He didn’t look any sad or anything like that. He looked, to be honest, looked quite fine.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of cases with people that will cry, and some people will be [sitting] still, don’t talk to you at all. He looked quite fine to me, to be honest.”

ANELE TEMBE’S DAD: ‘WHO DOES THAT?

In 2024, author Melinda Ferguson published her book, When Love Kills, A Tragic Tale about AKA and Anele. In it, Anele Tembe’s father, Moses, questioned AKA’s actions following his daughter’s balcony fall.

He said in the book: “Who doesn’t go down and try to help the woman he loves when he sees her lying in the street?

“No one who saw the body of the woman they loved wouldn’t have rushed down to help her. She wasn’t dead. 

“When Rob Stefanutto [an eyewitness] approached Anele, she responded by blinking. Within minutes of seeing his fiancée lying on the road, Kiernan orders tequila. Who does that?”