In a visibly difficult interview, Kiernan “AKA” Forbes sat down to answer difficult questions posed by independent journalist Thembikile Mrototo.
Although he said that the series of events were “blurry”, Forbes said the day before his fiancee Anele Nelli Tembe’s death was “a great day”.
“We went to the V&A, had lunch, went shopping, went back to the hotel, got dressed, she looked beautiful, and we went to work. We came back around 11:30pm on Friday, met up with friends.”
But one week before her death, Forbes said it was “a particularly difficult week in our relationship”, fraught with arguments.
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The trip to Cape Town was meant to serve as a reprieve, for the couple to try to work out some of the issues they had been having.
Sadly, the situation only got worse between the two.
The night before her death
Forbes explained that the couple spoke and disagreed the night before her death, into the early hours of the morning of 11 April.
“At one point, I decided it would be best to remove myself from the situation. I gathered my belongings and booked myself into another room. It got to a point where we argued more.
“She took [her] ring off and threw it at me, and said mean things. We continued to argue. Things took a turn for the worst when Anele threatened to kill herself, to jump off the balcony. She didn’t say it in those words.
“I had to call reception for security. And I’d tried to remove myself from the situation, I panicked, didn’t want to be there or feel like it’s going to happen, so I went to the bathroom.
“When I came out of the bathroom, she wasn’t in the room. I look around the room and she’s not there, I go to the balcony, look down into the street, and that’s where she was,” a visibly shaken Forbes revealed.
“I don’t know if [she jumped]… during the time I was on the phone or when I was in the bathroom, but that’s how I remember it.”
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‘I know how it looks’
Forbes was honest about how images and video footage that emerged Tembe’s death looked like, and that he “needs to own that”.
Riddled with regret, Forbes said he now images “how much I frightened her; how scared she msut have been”.
“If I could redo it and go back in time, I keep thinking could I have done something different, and that torments me every single day.
“But what I am not is an abuser… She was my everything, and still is my everything. My mission was to make her happy. That’s why I’m so heartbroken. That piece of my life is gone.
“I understand how it looks, but I want people to know I loved her with all my heart. That is why she said yes to marry me.”
The interview has been removed from YouTube in order for production company BarLeader TV to fix some audio issues.
It will be broadcast again soon. Updates on the time will follow as more information is made available.