Former police minister Bheki Cele has stunned the public after suggesting that Anele Tembe, the late fiancée of slain rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, may have been murdered.
Cele made the revelation on Thursday while testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption, criminality, and political interference within South Africa’s justice system.
Anele Tembe, the daughter of Durban businessman Moses Tembe, died in April 2021 after falling from the 10th floor of the Pepper Club Hotel in Loop Street, Cape Town. Her death was widely reported as a tragic fall, but questions about the circumstances surrounding it have lingered.
“There is an inquest into the death of Moses Tembe’s daughter. Police did the investigation and they believed that his daughter was murdered,” Cele told the committee. “They went time and again to the prosecutor for the things to be enrolled. They would say go back, dot the i’s and cross the t’s until they said if you can’t do it, give us a certificate. The prosecutor refused to give a certificate.”
Cele further told the committee that the magistrate presiding over the inquest had also raised concerns about why the matter had not yet been taken forward.
“I know that, that inquest, the magistrate that is there now is asking the question of why this thing was not enrolled because it’s an obvious case,” he added.
Cele’s comments immediately set social media alight, with many users speculating that Anele may have been murdered by her late fiancé, AKA, who himself was gunned down outside a Durban restaurant in February 2023.
The former minister’s statements have reignited debate around both deaths — Anele’s mysterious fall and AKA’s still-unresolved assassination — with online users calling for transparency from both police and prosecutors.
When contacted for comment, AKA’s parents, Lynn and Tony Forbes, declined to respond to Cele’s claims.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has previously confirmed that an inquest into Tembe’s death is ongoing, but has not commented on the allegations raised by Cele.
Moses Tembe has consistently maintained that his daughter was not suicidal and that her death warranted a deeper probe.
As the parliamentary inquiry continues, Cele’s explosive remarks have added new fuel to a saga that has gripped the nation for more than four years — one that now sits at the intersection of tragedy, justice, and unanswered questions.
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