Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene has taken aim at DA federal chair Helen Zille, calling her a “reject of Cape Town” who failed to deliver for the city’s townships.
This follows the PA’s announcement that Kunene will be its mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. Zille is campaigning under the DA banner.
“They are bringing us a wheelchair. They are bringing an old age home here. They are bringing a reject of Cape Town. Helen Zille could not perform in Cape Town. Helen Zille worked for the suburbs. Helen Zille did not work for people in Manenberg, in Mitchells Plain, in Khayelitsha, in Gugulethu, in Langa. She never worked for those people,” Kunene told journalists on Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a service delivery programme in Soweto, Kunene said Zille would not relate to the lived realities of Johannesburg’s residents.
“She worked for the suburbs. So now she wants to come here and be the mayor of Sandton, the mayor of Houghton and neglect Orange Farm, Soweto, Diepsloot and Alexandra,” he said.
Kunene dismissed Zille’s candidacy as out of touch with Johannesburg’s challenges.
“The people of Johannesburg are not going to allow somebody that must be looking after great-grandchildren to come here and run with people who are fit and energetic, like Kenny Kunene,” he said.
The PA deputy leader argued that Zille had no connection to the city.
“Our people are going to vote for me. They are not going to vote for a reject of Cape Town. She does not even have a house here — she’s still looking to rent. How is she going to deal with the issues of Johannesburg when she does not know them? She can’t know them over a year. We are here,” he said.
Kunene said he was confident that Johannesburg residents would back him for the top job.
“The people on the ground are saying, ‘Please stand for mayor. We are going to vote for you.’ Young people were stopping me at corners and saying, ‘We are going to vote for you as mayor.’ One thing about me is I tell the truth. I don’t spin anything and they accept that my truth has been confirmed,” he said.
His remarks come just days after his reinstatement as Johannesburg’s MMC for transport, marking his return to government following his resignation in July.
Kunene had stepped down from the city council after police found him at the home of suspected underworld figure Katiso “KT” Molefe during a raid.
Molefe is in custody for allegedly orchestrating the murder of musician Oupa “DJ Sumbody” Sefoka.
Kunene insisted that he is “here to stay” and focused on service delivery and governance in Johannesburg.
“I am in government in the City of Johannesburg. I know how to turn around the city. I’ve turned around the transport department. I’ve turned around its entities,” he said. “I know what needs to be done to Johannesburg. She must just sit in her house in Cape Town and take your great grandkids if she has them,” said Kunene.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.