McKenzie backs Kunene for Joburg mayor and rules out a ten-party coalition

Gayton McKenzie has backed Kenny Kunene to become mayor of Johannesburg, saying the city needs someone who will confront criminals rather than hold back, and that the Patriotic Alliance is prepared to work with any party that gives it the power to act.

As IOL reported on 22 September, the PA leader made the remarks during the party’s Johannesburg campaign. He described Kunene as a ruffian and said that was exactly what the job required.

“I’m saying the people of Joburg need a ruffian like Kenny Kunene to attack the criminals. Not someone who’s going to stand back. So Kenny Kunene is the best person,” he said.

McKenzie used the same appearance to go after the DA’s federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, questioning what she could deliver for Johannesburg and suggesting she should focus on other matters. He asked why promises he said she was making to Soweto had not been delivered in Langa, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, and why issues raised in Eldorado Park had not been addressed in Mitchells Plain, Bellville, Valhalla Park and Kraaifontein.

“And the worst one is Helen Zille. She must just join these other old people in the old age home,” he said.

Johannesburg is South Africa’s largest city by population and its economic centre, and its mayoral chain has changed hands repeatedly since the 2021 local government elections produced no outright winner. The city has been run under coalitions and, at times, under administrations propped up by parties outside the governing arrangement. The next local government elections will be decided ward by ward across a metro where service delivery, water interruptions and crime are live concerns for residents.

McKenzie said the PA would not insist on going it alone. He described himself as a realist and said he did not expect an outright majority, but wanted a coalition small enough to function.

“The PA will work with anybody that gives us power. Power to give jobs. Power to change people’s lives. Power to bring clean water,” he said.

He said the party was already working with the Freedom Front Plus, and that he expected a Johannesburg coalition involving the ANC, EFF, IFP, PA and MK Party. He said he wanted no more than three parties in the arrangement. He also criticised the DA and Freedom Front Plus for ruling out governing with the MK Party.

“I’ve seen these people, the Freedom Front Plus. It’s just white supremacy of the DA and the Freedom Front Plus to say ‘we will not work with MK’. We will not work with what? Who do they think they are?” he said.

On polling, McKenzie dismissed the value of opinion surveys, saying they had previously underestimated the PA’s support. He acknowledged that the ANC remained competitive, pointing to its recent by-election results.

“The ANC has been winning by-elections. Whether we like it or not, the ANC still has support,” he said. He maintained that Kunene would become mayor.

McKenzie also set out the PA’s position on undocumented migrants, arguing that people who want them to stay do not face the same pressure over housing and schooling as those who want them to leave. He said some business leaders wanted continued access to cheap labour, and that the PA’s presence in national government had shifted the government’s position.

“We are inside. We’ve moved the needle. I’m not sitting there and smiling the whole time in Cabinet. I’m talking when it comes to illegal foreigners. I’m saying: Mabahambe, they must go. And under the leadership of Kenny Kunene, they will go, trust me,” he said.

Immigration law in South Africa is administered by the Department of Home Affairs and enforced by the South African Police Service and the Border Management Authority. No political party, movement or individual has the authority to remove people from the country, and the enforcement of immigration law is a function of the state, not of a council or a crowd.

Kunene is a former Johannesburg mayoral candidate and a senior figure in the PA. Whether he becomes mayor depends on the outcome of the local government elections and on the coalition arithmetic that follows, neither of which McKenzie’s endorsement settles.

Source: IOL, McKenzie backs Kunene for Joburg, questions what Zille can offer