Author Melinda Ferguson when love kills The book chronicles the tragic story of hip-hop star Keenan aka Keenan aka Forbes and his fiancée Anele Tembe, who exposed her drug addiction.
Author of Aka and Anele books on drug use at hillbrow
The journalist, who has also written books about singer Kelly Khumalo and convicted former Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, told Sol Fenduca: podcast and chill I can relate to Anele's story.
“I was a very promising student…and then I discovered heroin and crack…crack cocaine and heroin. And when I was 23, I started using,” said Ferguson, a podcaster and Kaya FM Breakfast host. He told his co-host.
In 1999, Ms Ferguson said she was living in Johannesburg's skimmed Hillbrow.
“I am gang-raped. I am standing there cracking. I weigh 46 kilograms and I might die… A miracle happened and my brother rescued me. I ended up in a homeless farm in Magaliesberg. I was homeless. I was just homeless,” she explained.
After spending some time on the farm, Ferguson said she got clean and worked as a waitress. During her job, she met the deputy editor of one of the country's largest magazines, to whom she gave an article she had written, after which she was offered the job.
“I was a crack w*le.”
The author further opened up about her addiction, stating that she knows and understands the beast of addiction and believes it is also part of AKA and Anele's love story.
The writer said he has been alcohol and drug free for 24 years, but still smokes.
“I've been clean for 24 years…I know the signs,” she explained. “In the end, I had to sell my body to get the hits. I was trash. I slept with dealers.”
“Even when I was on the farm, I didn't want to stop,” she added. “I wanted to jump off the Ponte (a 173 meter high building in Hillbrow). I wanted to commit suicide.”
Ferguson said she can relate to Anele's story.
“It meant a lot to me. A girl falling off a building is something I wanted to do.”
drug use allegations against Aka and Anele
Anele, 22, died on April 11, 2021 after falling from the 10th floor of the Pepper Club Hotel on Roop Street in Cape Town.
Less than two years later, AKA was shot dead in Durban on February 10, 2023, along with his friend and celebrity chef Thebelo “Tibs” Motsoane.
2021 article by sunday world reported that AKA and Anele's “accusations of drug and physical abuse characterized their relationship.”
The highly publicized incident concerns an alleged episode of abuse in AKA and Anele's relationship, with a photo of the rapper shown behind a broken door. Other photos of the incident (shared by) sunday world Then show the musician in the same room as a terrified Anele.
According to the publication, the photo is from a video and Blowjob wearing Versace Anele can be heard begging him to calm down as the hitmaker breaks down the door. However, AKA can reportedly be heard hurling profanity at his partner in the footage.
The publication said that in another video released on a separate occasion, Anele was seen throwing objects at AKA and destroying furniture and AKA's awards, including the SA Music Awards. In the video, AKA can be heard saying that Anele was “under the influence” of drugs.