Inside Nelli Tembe’s memorial service

The family of Anele ‘Nelli’ Tembe hosted an emotional prayer service in her honour on Wednesday evening, with friends sharing their tributes.

Nelli apparently fell from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town on Sunday morning. Her body arrived in Durban on Wednesday ahead of memorial and funeral services later this week.

The prayer service at her family’s Durban home was broadcast on Zoom.

Family and friends chanted isiZulu prayers in her memory. Tony Forbes, AKA’s father, was in attendance, also leading in prayer.

Close friend Sthokozile Zungu wrote a letter to Nelli, remembering their friendship.

“Dear Anele, we both have awful crying faces so I will do my best to keep it together. It’s an unexplainable feeling to be standing in your home without you here. I won’t walk through the door and hear you shout ‘Sthokozile baby!’

“They say don’t be sad it’s over, be glad that it happened. I can’t imagine life without you in it but I am honoured that I was able to experience your loving, magnetic and powerful spirit while you were here.”

Uzonqoba Dhlomo, a close family friend, fought back tears as she spoke of the love she had for Nelli.

“It feels like Anele is going to walk in here at any moment with her bubbly spirit. Anele was so fierce about the way that she loved her friends. She was just that friend who was unapologetic when she loved someone. Anele was that friend we had to keep reminding that it’s just a game when we played 30 seconds.

“Anele is at peace where she is, she won’t suffer like we might still suffer in our everyday lives.”

Exact details around Nelli’s death are unknown at this stage but witnesses at the hotel described hearing a scream on Sunday morning, followed by a “loud doef” sound. They said they had also heard a man shouting.

Police have confirmed the incident is under investigation.