-
Patriotic Alliance Deputy President and mayoral candidate for the City Of Johannesburg Kenny Kunene
Patriotic Alliance Deputy President Kenny Kunene, who is also mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg, says he is the right person to lead the city.
Kunene, who also serves as the Mayoral Committee Member of Transport in Joburg, says he knows what needs to be done to turn the country’s richest city around.
He was speaking to the SABC on the party’s plan of action ahead of the local government elections.
He has prioritised revenue collection, reclaiming hijacked buildings and the issue of migration.
“I am the man for the job. I am the man to be the mayor of Johannesburg. I’m very decisive and I understand that you need to deal with the costs of the problem, not the effects of the problem. When you look at how government has run things until where we are, it deals with the effects of the problem.”
Relationship with Morero
Kunene has denied any break down in relations with the Mayor of Johannesburg Dada Morero.
He has been vocal about his calls for Morero to resign, accusing the Mayor of non-performance in the city.
Kunene also spoke about the party’s performance in recent by-elections in the George Municipality in the Western Cape, where the party won wards from the Democratic Alliance and the GOOD Party.
“I don’t have personal beef. Even if it were there, I wouldn’t put it in the way of governing. We had our issues from 2019 – 2020 but when we negotiated the coalition this time around, we overlooked those differences. But the man is just, it’s his character, he can’t work with people. He does not appreciate that we’re in a coalition. He wishes that the ANC was in the majority, therefore he can be an alpha and omega. And I’m saying, I can’t tell the ANC to remove their candidate, but I can certainly have an opinion on how the person is performing.”
BRT impasse
Kunene says he hopes to finalise the impasse affecting the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) feeder system soon.
The system, which has affected some commuters from Soweto, was suspended last year due to the killing of two feeder bus drivers, as well as unhappiness from some taxi associations that claim that the buses were not registered by following due process.
He could however would not commit to a date.
“I am the one that has stopped feeder passes. How could I do that when I have actually launched 45 feeder passes? So then engagements have started with the taxi associations again and I’m hoping that we will finalise them soon,” adds Kunene.
