Illustrative image | Johannesburg skyline. (Photo: iStock) | Gayton McKenzie. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais) | Kenny Kunene. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle) | Joburg Mayor Dada Morero. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images) 
High-level sources have told Daily Maverick that a deal’s been done for Kenny Kunene to return as the City of Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for transport.
At a meeting last Friday between the African National Congress (ANC) and Patriotic Alliance (PA), agreement was reached to break a stalemate.
Gayton McKenzie said in a fiery Facebook post last week that he would quit the Government of National Unity (GNU) if Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero did not reappoint Kunene as Transport MMC, the post he resigned from after being at the home of criminal mastermind and murder accused Katiso “KT” Molefe when the Hawks came to arrest him.
Read more: ‘He would never get involved with murders,’ says Gayton McKenzie after suspending Kenny Kunene
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Nonku-KennyKunene-.jpg "Kenny Kunene on 5 June 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo)")
A subsequent report by law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, commissioned by the PA, cleared Kunene, who was re-sworn in as a councillor on Friday, 26 September. Morero reportedly wanted to give the job to EFF councillor Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, but he will return Kunene to the transport portfolio, say sources in both the ANC and PA who spoke to Daily Maverick on condition of anonymity.
With the surging candidacy of DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille, the ANC cannot afford turbulence in the city where it leads a government of local unity with the PA and EFF, along with smaller political parties.
Its national leaders, party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and head of political education David Makhura, favour smoking the peace pipe. The parties will meet again on 30 September ahead of the announcement of a deal, said officials.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ED_574262.jpg "Joburg Mayor Dada Morero. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)")
ANC officials said that Morero had announced in his May State of the City Address that he would rotate heads of department and members of his mayoral committee to ensure that no political party “owned a portfolio” and performed better because incumbency wasn’t guaranteed.
“We don’t work with ultimatums. Secondly, the coalition government principle that we put in place is that whenever there is a dispute or difference in opinion, there must always be a consultation process,” said ANC Gauteng spokesperson Mzi Khumalo.
“It was never our problem; it is them who removed Kenny; it is them who is bringing Kenny back. How do you then give us an ultimatum? It is illogical, to say the least. However, our attitude is subject to the arrangement that is there within the coalition government itself. We really do not have an issue. Our problem is them throwing tantrums like they are young kids.”
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ED_511266-1.jpg "Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)")
McKenzie posted on Facebook that: “They have pushed us too far, patriots.”
He gave the ANC seven days to reinstate Kunene (it expires on 30 September), or the party would pull out of coalition governments with the ANC and he would leave the GNU.
“You can’t dine at the table when disrespect is on the menu; we opt to leave rather. Ons baiz nie [We’re not scared].”
Read more: South Africa’s GNU turns one – a year of unity, friction and some green shoots
Mbalula told eNCA: “Parties in the GNU must understand that whenever we are faced with difficulties and challenges and dissatisfaction, we cannot always threaten to go away. That’s not the way we build a national spirit around this convergence that South Africans support. It looks like we are delinquent and childish and immature.”
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ED_567576.jpg "Fikile Mbalula on 6 August 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle)")
Joburg’s transport department is coveted for different reasons. Kunene is running as the PA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate and he wants to make his campaign mark with better roads and transport systems.
The ANC and EFF reportedly desire the role because it’s a so-called wet portfolio, where rents are far more lucrative than at public safety, the portfolio currently held by the EFF’s Tshwaku.
Because Johannesburg’s transport system is in such a parlous condition, the transport department will receive substantial capital expenditure injections this year, as will the Johannesburg Roads Agency, which has to quickly get the arterial routes for the G20 meeting in decent nick for the heads of state who land here in November. DM
