McKenzie says Kunene must be investigated despite belief he’s innocent

Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie has said that although he believes Kenny Kunene is innocent, he needs to be investigated.

Kunene was recently found at the Sandton house of the murder accused Katiso “KT” Molefe when police arrived to arrest Molefe in connection with the 2022 murder of Oupa “DJ Sumbody” Sefoka.

Kunene was the PA’s deputy president then and held the party’s executive committee position in Johannesburg, in charge of the transport portfolio.

McKenzie suspended Kunene for 30 days pending an investigation into his relations with Molefe.

Kunene also resigned from his position in the Johannesburg council, and the PA replaced him with former Democratic Alliance member Liam Jacobs as councillor. A new MEC for transport has yet to be appointed.

McKenzie said in a live video that this process has been particularly challenging for him, given his brotherly relationship with Kunene. However, he will go about the investigation as he would with any other party member.

“It hurts me, what’s happening to Kunene. It hurts me that it’s happening at my hand. But right is right. I must treat Kenny Kunene like I would treat any other patriot,” McKenzie said.

“I know he’s innocent, but he must be investigated. I personally believe that he shouldn’t have been there.”

The PA leader added that Kunene would meet with the investigators on Thursday and that the party would announce the name of the “big four firm” that would be probing him once this process had concluded.

“Kunene will meet with the law firm, and they will interrogate him, and then he will tell them everything. Once this has happened, we will announce the name of the law firm,” McKenzie said.

“We are a transparent party, and everything will happen transparently.”

When found by authorities at the Molefe’s home, Kunene was with two other people, one of whom he said was a journalist and the other someone who had set up an exclusive interview with Molefe.

He told the SABC that he has no relationship with Molefe and was escorting a journalist from his online publication African News Global for an exclusive interview with the murder accused.

“We are not friends. I think if you look at my online newspaper, it hasn’t been that active, and I decided to put together some young people that can run with it, that are interested in the media space, to resuscitate it, obviously, and its own tradition,” Kunene said.