A hotel employee has provided a new account of the moments leading up to Anele “Nelli” Tembe’s fatal fall from the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town, telling an inquest that AKA was on the phone requesting urgent assistance.
Tembe, who was 22 at the time, died on 11 April 2021 after falling from the hotel’s 10th floor. Her death has remained the subject of intense public interest, with an inquest examining the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Witness recalls urgent phone call
According to the hotel employee’s testimony, she received a call from a man she recognised as Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, who had previously stayed at the hotel.
The witness said the caller requested that security come to the room to assist, explaining that a woman was on the balcony and appeared to want to jump.
She testified that she recognised Forbes’ voice during the call.
The situation then escalated within moments.
‘A scream and a bang’
While still speaking on the phone, the employee said she heard a scream followed by a loud bang.
She then ended the call and went outside with a colleague.
The witness said they found Tembe’s body on the road outside the hotel and subsequently asked security personnel to bring sheets to cover her.
Her testimony provides an account of the frantic response inside the hotel in the moments immediately before and after Tembe’s fall.
What the testimony adds to the inquest
The evidence gives investigators another account of what allegedly happened in the final moments before the tragedy.
Importantly, the witness’s account describes what she personally heard and observed during the emergency. It does not, on its own, establish the full circumstances surrounding Tembe’s death.
The inquest continues to examine evidence relating to the events of that night, while Tembe’s death remains a deeply sensitive subject for her family, those close to her and the wider South African public.
The latest testimony has nevertheless added another significant piece to the timeline, detailing an emergency call for assistance followed moments later by the sound of a scream and a bang.
