Tony Forbes challenges Bheki Cele's assertions connecting AKA to Anele Tembe's death

Both the Forbes and Tembe families are forced to relive old wounds after former Police Minister Bheki Cele’s remarks about Anele Tembe’s death stirred up fresh pain and controversy.

Speaking before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee last week, Cele claimed that police had treated Anele’s 2021 fall from a Cape Town hotel balcony as a murder investigation but said the matter never reached court because prosecutors declined to take it further.

His comments implied that the late rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes may have been involved in her death; a claim Tony Forbes says is not only false but cruelly unfair.

Tembe’s death in April 2021 remains one of the most heartbreaking stories in South African entertainment. The 22-year-old fell from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town while she and AKA were reportedly arguing.

At the time, police treated her death as a possible suicide, though social media speculation and unverified claims continued to swirl, speculation that has now resurfaced after Cele’s latest claims.

In an interview with "eNCA", Tony was direct in his response, describing Cele’s comments as “hurtful and unfair”. He said the former minister’s words painted his late son as a murderer when he wasn’t even alive to defend himself.

“So, for me, it’s just reopened the wounds, and Kiernan was just spoken of as a murderer again. It’s very unfair. It’s hurtful. He’s not here to defend himself, and I wish that the NPA could just set the record straight,” Tony said.

He also confirmed that the inquest into Tembe’s death is still set to go ahead. He explained that the family intends to present evidence during the process to finally clear Kiernan’s name once and for all.

“The right place for this to clear out is in the inquest… Kiernan passed away before it happened, but it’s not too late. We are still supposed to go there and take the facts so that there is a balanced discussion and not merely one-sided statements being made,” he said.

Firm in his stance, Tony painted a different picture of his son, not as a violent man, but as someone deeply in love with Tembe and committed to their future together.

“There’s no doubt that Kiernan was not a murderer. Two weeks before Anele died, Kiernan went and asked for her hand in marriage. Kiernan was not an aggressive person. He would never have done that. So, absolutely, he did not murder her,” Tony said firmly.

He also took the opportunity to clear up past rumours that he had “snubbed” Cele after the arrests in AKA’s murder case earlier this year. Tony denied ever disrespecting the former minister, accusing Cele of fabricating claims that he visited the Forbes family to pay his respects.

“As for our relationship, we spoke at the airport in the morning, and then we went our separate ways when we met in Durban. He never came to the house as he said. I’m actually surprised that the committee didn’t more robustly interrogate what the ex-minister had said,” Tony added.

The father of the late rapper ended by clarifying that, to his knowledge, police never told the family that Tembe's death was being treated as a murder case, a detail that makes Cele’s recent claims even more baffling.

The inquest into Tembe’s death is expected to move forward, with both families awaiting a formal conclusion to the matter.