--- title: "McKenzie to stay in GNU after Kunene likely returns as Joburg transport boss" description: "Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie will stay in the GNU and his ally Kenny Kunene will get his job back as Johannesburg’s transport boss." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "CITY OF JOHANNESBURG" author: "Ferial Haffajee and Nonkululeko Njilo" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/ferial-haffajee-and-nonkululeko-njilo/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-09-29-mckenzie-to-stay-in-gnu-after-kunene-likely-returns-as-joburg-transport-boss/" published: "2025-09-29T20:52:58" updated: "2025-09-29T22:35:36" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 741 --- # McKenzie to stay in GNU after Kunene likely returns as Joburg transport boss > Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie will stay in the GNU and his ally Kenny Kunene will get his job back as Johannesburg’s transport boss. By Ferial Haffajee and Nonkululeko Njilo · Published 29 September 2025, 22:52 SAST · Updated 30 September 2025, 00:35 SAST ## Key points - Kenny Kunene is set to waltz back into Johannesburg's transport MMC role after a dramatic showdown involving ultimatums and political tantrums, proving that in coalition politics, the only thing more slippery than a wet portfolio is the art of negotiation. - Kenny Kunene is set to return as Johannesburg's MMC for transport following a deal between the ANC and Patriotic Alliance to resolve a political impasse. - Gayton McKenzie threatened to withdraw from the coalition government if Kunene was not reinstated, citing disrespect from the ANC. - The ANC aims to maintain stability in Johannesburg amid rising competition from DA's Helen Zille for the mayoral position. - Kunene's return is critical as the transport department is poised for significant funding to improve infrastructure ahead of the G20 meeting in November. ## Content 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](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-07-23-kunene-would-never-get-involved-with-murders-says-mckenzie/) ![Johannesburg mayoral committee member for transport Kenny Kunene at the unveiling of a new provincial number plate system at the Nasrec Expo Centre on 5 June 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/B2gw-yB14u2Rs07wBSNpjV8bu9w=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/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](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-09-28-the-zille-factors-the-big-issues-as-jozi-looks-for-saviour-at-2026-polls/) 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. ![Joburg Mayor Dada Morero was grilled in Parliament over the diversion of R4bn intended for Joburg Water. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/_aJGVP2gPSws0YtQT1lTvAXAO7g=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ED_574262.jpg) *Joburg Mayor Dada Morero being grilled in Parliament over the diversion of R4bn intended for Joburg Water. (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.” ![Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/h3NXlgTv4ssOHavWVy2wd7Rg2D0=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/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](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-06-14-south-africas-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.” ![Ferial-Post-Cyril](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/-5T6k-MIA449Y-OFqRyyFuHLYko=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ED_567576.jpg) *Fikile Mbalula (ANC Secretary General) briefs the media at Luthuli House on August 06, 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (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](https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/politics/kenny-kunene-jourg-mmc-mckenzie-gnu/) 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** ![Image](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-09-29-17_30_24-Greenshot-1.jpg)