DNA and fingerprint tests follow “strange” stains on champagne bottle in Anele Tembe inquest
The formal inquest into the death of Anele Tembe has turned to forensic evidence, after investigators sent a champagne bottle for DNA and fingerprint testing
The formal inquest into the death of Anele Tembe has turned to forensic evidence, after investigators sent a champagne bottle for DNA and fingerprint testing because of what one witness described as “very strange” stains. The hearing resumed on Monday in the Cape Town magistrates’ court, more than five years after the 22-year-old fell from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town.
Tembe was engaged to late rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes. Her death on 11 April 2021 has remained under scrutiny in South Africa, where the case has drawn intense public attention and repeated speculation online. The inquest is now hearing evidence in a more formal setting, with the court examining what happened in the final hours before her fall.
Forensic focus at the hotel
One witness told the court about the bottle and the unusual stains found on it, prompting the decision to test it for DNA and fingerprints. That detail pushed the inquiry further into the sequence of events at the hotel, where investigators are trying to piece together movements, contacts and possible traces left behind.
The bottles and stains matter because the inquest is not only about the final fall. It is also about the moments leading up to it. Forensic material can help establish who handled objects in the room and whether the scene matched earlier accounts.
The hearing comes after a postponement in July, when the magistrate fell ill and the scheduled start was pushed to September. Family members had said they would engage with the process in a structured way, reflecting both the sensitivity of the case and the frustration of waiting years for formal proceedings to move ahead.
Family, public speculation and the record
The Tembe family has previously said it would take part carefully in the inquest. That measured stance stands in contrast to the noise outside court, where social media users have long circulated theories about what happened at the Pepperclub Hotel.
AKA’s father, Tony Forbes, has also spoken publicly in recent months, saying he wanted to defend his son’s name and memory. He said he had leaked WhatsApp messages exchanged between AKA, Tembe and the Tembe family lawyer, which related to an earlier incident in Durban in December 2020.
Those messages, which Forbes said people could read and judge for themselves, added to the public debate around the relationship before Tembe’s death. But the inquest itself remains focused on evidence, testimony and what the court can establish from the facts.
Tembe died after falling from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town on 11 April 2021. The hearing in the magistrates’ court is expected to continue with more witness testimony and scrutiny of the material gathered since then.
One witness’s account of the bottle’s “very strange” stains has now pulled forensic testing to the centre of a case that has shadowed both families for years.
