‘I have never been more freaked out by a story’: Book about AKA and Anele to hit shelves

ON the day the Tembe family commemorated the third anniversary of Anele “Nellie”Tembe’s passing, author Melinda Ferguson shared that writing the upcoming book detailing Kiernan “AKA” Forbes’s relationship with Anele, has taken it’s toll on her.

“I have never worked harder on a book. I have never been more freaked out by a story. I have never kept a secret like I have this one, but the news has just been leaked on social media ... So here it is from the horse’s mouth,” Ferguson wrote in Facebook post on Thursday April 11.

“My new book will hit the shelves next week. It’s been a real journey to get this out. It nearly killed my own relationship. It’s a story that broke my heart,” the author concluded.

Titled When Love Kills: The Tragic Tale of AKA and Anele, the book will be published by NB-Uitgewers/Publishers.

Tembe fell to her death from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town on April 11, 2021 while in the city for the weekend with AKA, who was due to perform at the Ayepyep Lifestyle Lounge.

Her family is contesting an inquest finding by the National Prosecuting Authority that she took her own life.

AKA murder and rumours of retribution

AKA was gunned down outside a restaurant in Durban on February 10, 2023.

The ambiguity surrounding Tembe’s death led people to think AKA was assassinated, with rumours swirling around that his murder was retribution for Tembe’s death.

Ferguson is an author who wrote Kelly Khumalo’s The Kelly Khumalo Story that was published in 2012.

In 2005, she released Smacked, a book detailing her downward spiral into addiction, where she was hooked on heroin and crack cocaine.