Gauteng to be a ‘no-go zone’ for illegal immigrants, vows PA’s Kenny Kunene

City of Johannesburg political head for transport Kenny Kunene has vowed to make Gauteng a “no-go zone” for illegal immigrants as he joins a long list of candidates positioning themselves to lead SA’s commercial and financial hub after the 2024 general elections. 

Kunene is deputy president of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and its Gauteng premier candidate. The PA, led by Gayton McKenzie, has made headlines for its uncompromising anti-illegal-immigration stance that saw it patrol the porous border between SA and Zimbabwe in January, turning away those seeking to enter the country illegally. 

Opposition political leaders — including Kunene, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga, Rise Mzansi national chair Vuyiswa Ramokgopa, ActionSA Gauteng chair Funzi Ngobeni and UDM Gauteng premier candidate Mthunzi Mdwaba — believe Gauteng is up for the taking as the ANC-run province struggles with service delivery issues such as access to housing, water, electricity and healthcare.

The province, which contributes nearly 40% to GDP, is also struggling with high unemployment, violent crime, corruption, unstable local government and maladministration. However, ANC Gauteng chair and premier Panyaza Lesufi has said only the ANC could save Gauteng. 

The ANC lost control of the Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni — which it later reclaimed — and Tshwane metros in Gauteng to DA-led coalitions in the 2021 municipal elections when its national electoral support fell below the 50% mark for the first time since 1994. 

The ANC’s support in Gauteng had been on the decline before that too: in the 2019 provincial election it received 2.1-million votes, or 50.1%, down from the 53.5% it mustered in 2014. 

The PA has been making serious inroads in the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng where it has won several wards from predominantly coloured communities previously viewed as DA strongholds. 

During by-elections in June 2023 in Johannesburg’s Ennerdale the PA won a seat held by the ANC with 46.81% (3,233 votes) and voter turnout was 33.86%.

During by-elections held on April 24 in Swartland municipality’s ward 11 in the DA-run Western Cape, the PA won a seat previously held by the DA with 40.18%. Voter turnout was 47.82%.

The PA won another seat previously held by the ANC in ward 9 of the Oudtshoorn municipality in the Western Cape with 65.47%. Voter turnout was 47.02%.

In an interview with Business Day, Kunene said the state of Gauteng is a serious “indictment” of the ANC and Lesufi. 

“How did we get here? We got here because of the ANC’s poor economic policies which are destroying public institutions. They make them dysfunctional so that the private sector can take them over,” Kunene said. 

“The ANC has also destroyed public health institutions. Our hospitals are viewed as death dens.” 

He complained about the crime rate in the province, saying the police were not doing enough to fight the scourge, “hence the proliferation of the private security industry”. 

Kunene also took issue with the R400bn township economy — equivalent to almost 8% of GDP annually and is responsible for the employment of about 2.6-million people — saying it was in the hands of “illegal foreigners”. 

“The ANC has destroyed the local economy. Illegal Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are running the spaza shop sector,” Kunene said. 

According to research by author, marketer and brand specialist GG Alcock, who has studied the township economy for almost 20 years, the sector comprises 30,000 spazarettes (local supermarkets), which are valued at R200bn a year, dominated by Somalians, Ethiopians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. 

Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced during a media briefing recently that the cabinet had approved the final white paper on citizenship, immigration and refuge protection, which advocates for the overhauling of the country’s immigration laws. 

In terms of the white paper, all spaza shops need to be audited and registered to pay tax. 

“We want spaza shops audited. We want the owners to come forward and the spaza shop to be registered. And when you register we want documentation. If you don’t have documentation, we will obviously have the spaza shop closed. If, on the other hand, you have the right to be in SA, all that is left is for you to register with the SA Revenue Service and start paying tax on that spaza shop. 

“Then the department of health will have to make standards: you cannot sell food in this spaza shop and sleep there and cook there and eat there and wash inside there and hold prayer or Sunday services in there. That will have to be abolished,” he said. 

The white paper is also aimed at cracking down on people seeking to reside in SA under false pretences: “Pan-Africanism does not promote illegality or illegal entry,” said Motsoaledi. 

Kunene proclaimed: “When I become premier of Gauteng, the issue I will deal with first is the question of unemployment. We are going to create permanent jobs by employing young people to maintain our public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and police stations and make sure they are clean.”

He lashed out at Lesufi’s mass job creation programme, Nasi Ispani, framing it as an election gimmick that will not fly with the electorate. “Lesufi is taking advantage of our people. Nasi Ispani is a joke.” 

Training

Lesufi said in February in addition to the 6,000 crime-prevention wardens already on board and making a “significant impact, we will further train about 3,000 additional young people to be deployed to fight crime at strategic levels, including in the taxi industry [and] business forums and prevent land invasions”. 

Kunene claims some factories around Gauteng and farmers in the Western Cape employed undocumented immigrants so they could exploit them by paying them far below the legislated national minimum wage of R27.58 per hour and withhold employment benefits from them. 

“So, when we say they must not come to SA without proper documentation, we are actually helping them from being exploited,” Kunene said. 

“I’m going to clean Gauteng of all illegal immigrants when I become premier. There will be no [illegal] Pakistanis running spaza shops in Gauteng. Gauteng will be a no-go zone for illegal immigrants,” he said.

Together with water and electricity, the issue of immigration has become a key electioneering point ahead of the May 29 polls. Kunene said big business was prepared to help South Africans start their own tuck/spaza shops in the townships and be in charge of the whole value chain. 

In his state of the province address in February, Lesufi said the provincial government had over the past five years spent R15bn on township businesses. 

“In the last year alone, we spent R2.2bn on township businesses which demonstrates our substantial investment to empowering township communities, leading to increased economic activities, job creation and a positive impact on the unemployment rate,” he said. 

Unperturbed, Kunene said if elected he would strive to make Gauteng once again lead “Africa in terms of economic growth and stimulation”. 

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za