Author Melinda Ferguson’s new book “When Love Kills: The tragic tale of AKA and Anele” is currently is the talk of the town.
The book details story of hip hop icon, Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his fiancé Anele Tembe, prior to her tragic passing.
Tembe fell to her death from the 10th floor of the Pepper Club in Cape Town in April, 2021. Less than two years later, AKA was shot dead outside Wish restaurant in Florida Road, Durban.
Since the announcement of the book, Ferguson has garnered mixed reactions. And AKA’s parents and “The Megacy” have slammed the release.
However, in a recent interview with CapeTalk’s Clarence Ford, Ferguson urged people to read the book before making assumptions on its contents.
“I think at the moment there are people who are really scared of what I’ve written in the book. I think it needs to be clear that I didn’t write a celebrity memoir about AKA,” she said.
Ferguson said the media have been reporting on Tembe’s death since April 2021, without any questions, but yet have been “screaming” at her book since they found out about it.
“At the moment it feels like I am the most hated woman in South Africa... I feel like a lot of people are very emotional about this story.
“I believe I’ve written a very compassionate story, a kind of modern day ‘Romeo and Juliet’, two star-crossed lovers... who are now both tragically dead.
She said she had been drawn to this story because of her own similar experiences.
“I was very drawn to the story because I am someone who is very drawn to pain, tragedy because I had my own experiences.
“My book tries to create a sense of who these two characters were and how it all went so wrong. So I do think there are a lot of people who are very invested in this story. I feel like I’m the messenger and people are shooting me.
“I’d love for people to read the book, make your own opinion, see what I’ve done there, and then I think I would love for people to really start talking to me, because all of the noise before the book has been read seems to be a bit absurd to me,” she said.
She continued to chat to Ford about some of the book’s contents, including her interview with the man who tried to save Tembe’s life.
She also spoke about the many “enemies” AKA had made over the years, including rapper Cassper Nyovest, global superstar Burna Boy and underworld club Mafia.
“I cannot say who killed AKA. I have a chapter in saying ‘Who killed AKA’ and I go through a list of possible suspects... Hopefully, more will be revealed in the trial.”