Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene says Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Helen Zille should stay home and look after her great-grandchildren if she has them, instead of running for Johannesburg mayor in 2026.

Kunene called her “a Cape Town reject” who knows nothing about the city’s challenges.

He made the remarks on Wednesday in Diepkloof, Soweto, where he led a pothole-patching operation alongside the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) board and CEO Zweli Nyathi.

Kunene has officially returned to his position as the City of Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Transport, following a swearing-in ceremony officiated by Council Speaker Margaret Arnolds on Monday.

He previously resigned from his council and MMC positions in July 2025 amid controversy after he was found at the home of Katiso “TK” Molefe, who is accused of murdering musician DJ Sumbody.

At that time, the PA suspended him pending an internal investigation.

After being cleared of any wrongdoing, Kunene was reinstated as a councillor last month, with PA leader Gayton McKenzie threatening to withdraw the party from coalition agreements with the ANC in Johannesburg if Kunene was not reappointed to the mayoral committee.

As MMC for Transport, Kunene oversees the city’s roads, public transport systems, traffic management, and related infrastructure projects.

The PA has also announced Kunene as its mayoral candidate for Johannesburg in the 2026 local government elections.

Commenting on Zille’s nomination by the DA, Kunene said he was unfazed.

“What experience? They are bringing us a wheelchair. They are bringing an old-age home here. They are some of the rejects of Cape Town,” he said.

“Helen Zille could not perform in Cape Town. She worked for the suburbs. She did not work for the people of Manenberg, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu or Langa. She never worked for those people; she worked for the suburbs.”

Over the years, the DA has faced criticism and allegations of failing to provide adequate services to informal settlements during Zille’s tenure as Cape Town mayor and as premier of the Western Cape.

“So now she wants to come here (to Johannesburg) and be the mayor of Sandton, the mayor of Gauteng, and neglect Orange Farm, Soweto, Diepsloot and Alexandra,” Kunene said.

He claimed that Johannesburg residents would not vote for Zille but for him instead.

”The people of Johannesburg are not going to allow somebody who should be looking after great-grandchildren to come here and run with people who are fit and energetic like Kenny Kunene. Our people are going to vote for me,” he said.

Kunene further argued that Zille was out of touch with the metro’s challenges.

“They are not going to vote for a reject of Cape Town. She does not even have a house here; she is still looking to rent. So how is she going to deal with the issues of Johannesburg when she doesn’t know them – and she can’t learn them in just a year?” he said.

“I’m in government in the City of Johannesburg. I know how to turn around the city. I’ve turned around the transport department. I know what needs to be done. She must just sit in her house in Cape Town and take care of her great-grandchildren, if she has them.”

Kunene said PA supporters had urged him to run for mayor.

“The people on the ground are saying, ‘Please stand for mayor. We are going to vote for you,’” he claimed.

“Young people were stopping me on the corners and saying they’re going to vote for me as mayor.”

“One thing about me is that I tell the truth; I don’t spin anything. People accept that my truth has been confirmed. So there’s no problem – the public image is proper and intact,” he said.

Zille previously served as mayor of Cape Town from March 2006 to April 2009 and as premier of the Western Cape for two terms, from 2009 to 2019.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

IOL Politics

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