Moses Tembe, father of Anele ‘Nelli’ Tembe, fiancée to AKA, South African rapper, has debunked claims that his late daughter committed suicide.
The 22-year-old died on Sunday after her involvement in a tragic accident at the Pepperclub Hotel in central Cape Town.
Several reports had hinted that the deceased fell from the 10th floor of the five-star hotel but police said investigation was ongoing to ascertain the cause of her death.
In a letter on Friday during her funeral service, Moses described the suicide claims in some quarters as “an unfortunate narrative.”
He, however, called for all-inclusive measures to tackle drug abuse among other societal vices in the letter read by Sandile Zungu.
“As Anele’s father, I categorically state that Anele was neither suicidal nor did she commit suicide. We must as a matter of priority deal with the scourge that bedevils our youth. Alcohol which is overused and drugs. Fellow South Africans we better wake up and smell the coffee, we have a serious problem with substance abuse.” he wrote.
“I cannot allow an unfortunate narrative to go unchallenged, a narrative that irks me to no end … that is ‘Anele was chronically suicidal’. All I can say is, until Anele turned 21, not a single member of her family, my family would have associated her with suicide.”
AKA and the deceased were said to have started dating last year.
The funeral service was streamed on YouTube due to the coronavirus pandemic.