Fees Must Fall activist Bonginkosi Khanyile has joined the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
Khanyile was welcomed to his new political home by the PA’s deputy president Kenny Kunene during a media briefing at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton on Thursday.
Khanyile, a former EFF member, is out on bail for allegedly inciting violence in Durban during the unrest in July 2021. He was apprehended the following month after he was spotted in several videos encouraging looters in a Shoprite store to demand the release of former president Jacob Zuma from jail.
Khanyile was later released on R5 000 bail.
In a wide-ranging address, Kunene said: “This is a man who has gone from the ANC to the EFF and has put his life on the line for the students of this country to get what they are supposed to get, which is free education.”
Kunene, popularly known as the Sushi King for eating sushi off the naked bodies of women, is also a former EFF member. He showered Khanyile with praise for his leadership and activism.
He said: “[He is] a young man that continues to inspire the youth and has been treated like a terrorist in this country when he highlights the plight of young people.”
Khanyile said the PA is the only political party with a pragmatic plan of action, noting that like himself, the party is solution-driven.
He went on to quote party president Gayton McKenzie during his inauguration as the mayor of Central Karoo district municipality last month when he said he would not accept benefits that come with his position as the mayor, including his mayoral salary.
Khanyile said he would not go to his people in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, who are in need of water and tell them about other irrelevant issues, noting that when people approached their leaders with a problem, leaders should offer solutions.
“Water is water … Solutions!” said Khanyile.
Kunene also stated during the media briefing that three ActionSA members and two SA First member had joined the PA. Addressing the party’s withdrawal from a coalition with the DA in the Western Cape, he said the DA was “colluding or trying to collude with the ANC” to remove the PA from the Central Karoo.
He reiterated the party’s commitment to the Central Karoo, affirming that McKenzie is already at work, and added that his party is not xenophobic.
“The Central Karoo will be an example that where we govern, there will be no illegal immigrants. We are saying the Zimbabwean government must be responsible for the employment of its people. The illegal Nigerians have also hijacked buildings in Sunnyside [Pretoria], they are running drug cartels.”
Kunene also took a jab at EFF leader Julius Malema, saying the red-beret commander-in-chief is an “e-wallet” politician who makes money from insulting people.
He said Malema envied “white people” more than he hates them, and would have been a sellout if he had been old enough during the apartheid regime. “If we were still fighting the apartheid government, Julius Malema would have been an impimpi [an informer]. He is an e-wallet politician.”
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