The father of South African rapper AKA's late girlfriend Nelli Tembe has debunked the reports that she committed suicide.

The businessman made this known during his daughter's lying in state at the Durban International Conference Centre on Friday, April 16, 2021.

In a letter read by businessman Sandile Zungu, Tembe said his daughter was neither suicidal nor did she commit suicide.

"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.”

Nelli died on Sunday, April 11, 2021, at the Pepperclub Hotel in Central Cape Town.

She fell off the 10th floor of the hotel building.

Witnesses at the scene described hearing shouting and a 'loud doof' sound and said they had heard a man calling security and crying.

"Paramedics on the scene have said a female had allegedly jumped from the 10th floor of that building. When paramedics arrived on the scene, she had sustained polytraumatic injuries," Netcare 911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst said.

AKA and Tembe got engaged two months ago.