CAPE TOWN - A formal inquest into the death of Anele Tembe has been postponed until September.
The inquest was scheduled to begin on Monday at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, but the magistrate postponed proceedings due to an “unavoidable medical emergency”.
The matter will now be heard on 7, 8, 9, 15 and 16 September 2026.
Six witnesses are expected to testify as the court investigates the circumstances surrounding Tembe’s fatal fall from the 10th floor of a Cape Town hotel in April 2021.
The 22-year-old was engaged to rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, who was with her at the hotel on the day of her death.
The National Prosecuting Authority decided in 2022 not to prosecute anyone in connection with Tembe’s death. Following Forbes’ death in 2023, the matter was referred for an inquest.
The Tembe family says it hopes the inquest will finally provide answers about what happened.
Meanwhile, new text messages have emerged ahead of the proceedings.
One exchange is between Forbes and a Tembe family lawyer on the day of an earlier incident at the Hilton Hotel in Durban, where Tembe was reportedly threatening to jump from a building.
Another chat between Anele and AKA includes messages in which she speaks about trying to take her own life, warning that if there was a next time, she would "do it for good."
The Tembe family says the messages raise new questions. They want the NPA to investigate alleged differences between the lawyer's affidavit, and the text messages.