They Ordered Tequila Shooters. She Had Just Fallen Ten Floors.
It was still morning. Just after 9am.
Anele Tembe was dead on the ground outside the Pepperclub Hotel, having fallen from the 10th floor. Police were on the scene. Staff knew which room it had happened in.
And in room 105, somebody picked up the phone and ordered tequila shooters.
The hotel said no.
What The Court Heard On Wednesday
The Pepperclub Hotel's general manager and director took the stand as the Cape Town magistrate's court continued its formal inquest into the death of 22-year-old Anele Tembe in April 2021.
He told the court he was informed that alcohol was being ordered for the room occupied by Kiernan "AKA" Forbes and members of his entourage — after Tembe's fall.
He shut it down.
"I said it was not something we should entertain. They were not happy about the restrictions and I had to speak to them."
Asked how Forbes reacted to being refused, the manager said the rapper was not upset, but appeared unhappy with the decision.
"We did not discuss it. It was a decision that could not be revoked."
The Guest At Breakfast Who Overheard It
A second witness — a guest staying at the hotel — gave the same account from a different table.
She was having breakfast shortly after 9am, seated close to the desk with the hotel's phone, when a waitress took the order out loud.
"We were sitting next to the reception area and we heard they were ordering tequila shooters. We heard because the waitress repeated their order and confirmed the room number."
Then came the line that landed hardest in the courtroom.
"We had heard about the incident in that room and it did not make sense, especially after what happened."
The Room Itself
Wednesday's evidence follows what the court heard on Monday about the state of the hotel room after the fall.
A police officer who attended the scene described the room as being in disarray.
Blood was found on towels lying on the floor. Blood on the linen. Blood around a champagne bottle.
"My Fiancée Is Gone"
The first police officer to arrive testified on Monday that Forbes was distraught and said to him:
"My fiancée is gone, I will never see my fiancée again."
But the hotel manager's memory of that morning contained a gap he was asked about directly.
He said he did not recall Forbes asking him about Tembe's condition, or what had happened to her.
What he did recall was a different question.
"He asked the police what's the next step. I remember him asking the police if he could make a statement while he still remembered."
| Detail |
Information
|
|---|---|
| Deceased | Anele Tembe, 22 |
| Died | April 2021 |
| Location | Pepperclub Hotel, Cape Town — fall from 10th floor |
| Proceeding | Formal inquest, Cape Town magistrate's court |
| Inquest began | Monday |
| Witnesses so far | Six, including two police officers, a hotel manager, a neighbour, a businessperson who supplied video footage, and a hotel employee |
| Publication ruling | Identities of some witnesses may not be published |
| Wednesday's witness | Pepperclub general manager and director |
| Key evidence | Tequila shooter order for room 105, placed after the fall — refused by management |
| Second witness | Hotel guest who overheard the order at breakfast after 9am |
| Room condition | In disarray; blood on towels, linen and around a champagne bottle |
| Forbes' words at scene | "My fiancée is gone, I will never see my fiancée again" |
| Status | Inquest continues |
Why This Inquest Exists
A formal inquest is not a criminal trial. Nobody is on trial. There is no accused in the dock.
Its job is narrower and, for a family, sometimes crueller: to establish how a person died, and whether anybody can be held responsible.
At the end, a magistrate makes findings. If those findings point to possible criminal conduct, the matter can be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority for a decision on charges.
That is what more than five years of waiting has come down to.
The Part That Stays With You
Anele Tembe was 22. She had a family who loved her. She had a life that ended on a Cape Town pavement on a morning in April 2021.
Five years later, a hotel manager stood in a courtroom and described refusing to send drinks up to a room where she had been alive an hour earlier.
The inquest continues.
