Joburg's no-show mayor not evading media ... he's just busy: Kenny Kunene

Transport MMC Kenny Kunene has denied allegations that Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is avoiding the media, saying “the narrative is wrong”.

This follows Gwamanda's swift exit from the council chambers shortly after delivering his maiden state of the city address.

Instead of the mayor engaging with journalists afterwards, four members of his mayoral committee undertook that responsibility, including Kunene.

“The narrative that the mayor is running away is wrong. We are here to react to any clarity-seeking questions.  If the speaker has communicated that [the mayor will do so], then there is a communication breakdown,” Kunene said.

Instead, the MMC said, the mayor had another engagement to get to.

“The mayor had a programme [which] included that he deliver his state of the city speech and then head off to another engagement. And we [the mayoral committee members] will deal with any clarity that the media needs,” said Kunene.

This is the third time Gwamanda has appeared to evade accountability, after damning allegations that he used to run a funeral burial scheme and scammed communities out of their payouts.

The first briefing called by Al-Jama-ah on May 13 to clear his name was abruptly postponed hours before it was due.

The second attempt was an address on the city's state of readiness, scheduled for Monday to allow journalists to clarify certain issues ahead of the state of the city address so as to not deviate from the announcement of his administration's key priorities. However, speaker Colleen Makhubele said the mayor was no longer available for that engagement.

On Tuesday, the much-anticipated briefing should have been the third attempt to not only unpack the state of the city address, but also allow the media face time with the mayor. 

Stepping in to fill the mayor's shoes were Kunene, finance MMC Dada Morero, group corporate's Loyiso Masuku and public safety's Mgcini Tshwaku.

Masuku echoed Kunene's sentiments, saying that once the debates had concluded, the mayor would meet the media.

“The executive mayor is going to hold a series of stakeholder engagements post the state of the city address and the budget speech, which is set to take place next week,” said Masuku.

Acting mayoral spokesperson Anisa Mazimpaka was unavailable to account for the mayor's whereabouts.

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