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Tony Forbes, father of the late rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, has broken his silence regarding WhatsApp messages involving his son and his late fiancée.
This comes after the inquest into Anele Tembe’s death, which was scheduled to commence on Monday, was postponed to September due to the magistrate falling ill.
Anele fell to her death at the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town in 2021. AKA was fatally shot outside a restaurant on Florida Road in Durban in 2023.
While social media users have been drawn to speculate after Anele’s last moments at the Pepperclub Hotel were shared on the timeline, Tony said he wanted to defend his son.
Taking to his timeline, he admitted to leaking WhatsApp texts exchanged between AKA, Anele and the Tembe family lawyer which were exchanged during and after her alleged attempt to take her life at the Hilton Hotel in Durban in December 2020.
The text messages show Anele allegedly saying she wants to jump to her death.
Read the texts and decide for yourself
— Tony Forbes
“I did it as his father. Not Lynn Forbes, nor Steffan Forbes. I could not save him, but I can fight for his name and memory,” Tony said in a statement shared on his official Instagram page.
“Over the years, I have generally not responded to countless media stories, political speeches and allegations that Kiernan murdered Anele.
“I believed the formal inquest was the right place to respond. However, after continued character assassinations, I believed the time was right to put this information into the public domain. To bring balance. To bring fact. Not speculation. Not to create a false narrative.
“In short, the texts support the National Prosecuting Authority decision that there was no foul play. It also raises contradictions in relation to sworn affidavits in the docket. Amazingly, these texts were never included in the case docket. These texts were on Kiernan’s phone all along. The investigating officer did not include it. Read the texts and decide for yourself. Thank you for your continued and amazing support.”
TshisaLIVE reached out to Anele’s family for comment. Here is their response: “The Tembe family respects the inquest process. We would not add salt to the wound felt by both families, Tembe and Forbes, by commenting on Tony Forbes’ statements.
“We look forward to a structured engagement in court from September 7 to 16.”
TimesLIVE
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