Unravelling the Kenny Kunene 'hit' saga

This is the exact location where businessman Kenny Kunene was allegedly shot at on Tuesday night while driving a BMW 125i.

“It was around nine at night. I was on my night shift. I was opening the gate to go check outside and then I saw two men shooting at a car and immediately the car was reversing. I saw a white car in front of the one being shot at‚” said Ellias Khuma‚ the office park security guard.

“I didn’t want to go anywhere close because I work inside. I was wearing a reflector so they would have seen me and I would probably have been in danger too. I quickly went back inside and within a few minutes there police on the scene.”

Two homeless men‚ Vusi Mtshali and Sthembiso Dlamini‚ told mzansiUpdates that they heard gunshots at the corner adjacent the park they live in.

Mtshali said that they were just sitting when they heard “hectic” gunshots.

“I think about 15 bullets were shot. It was too hectic. We didn’t go to the scene but as you can see‚ we are close enough to the park fence. It was too much and happened fast‚” said Mtshali.

According to Dlamini the police arrived immediately.



“It didn’t take long for the police to arrive. The next thing we saw danger tapes. And they were on the scene for a long while‚ hours I think‚” said Dlamini.

The intersection is on a busy road and when mzansiUpdates arrived at the scene it found a small strip of police red tape on the side of the road.

Despite these eyewitness accounts‚ there are discrepancies on as to what really took place.

A bystander who was on the scene slammed the claim that there were 20 or more bullets shot.

“They were all chilled‚ they didn’t seem to be in shock at all‚ they were smiling and happy‚ no one was crying or looked nervous or anything like that. A Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) quantum was there. Nobody looked anxious or anything like that. The JMPD guys were walking around‚ their van was parked outside the road they were walking up the scene. Then Kunene made a phone call‚ a Jeep and a Range Rover arrived. When they arrived the police all got back in their vans and left the scene. I’m not sure who was in those cars‚” he said.

According to the passerby‚ the woman who was in the car with Kunene was moved to the Range Rover and they started taking photos of Kunene in front of the car.

“He said 20 shots were fired at him. I don’t believe that. A witness [who is an] ex cop said he heard a maximum of eight‚ between six and eight and only four of them hit his car. Very unlikely that 20 shots were shot because you could probably take a gun and shoot a car 20 times‚ at least 10 of them will hit the car. Four shot at the car only on the passenger side. Definitely not 20 shots [were] fired‚” he said.

Kunene said prior to the shooting he was with his friend‚ Sunday Independent editor Steve Motale‚ when Motale’s bodyguard advised them not to drive together.

Motale confirmed with mzansiUpdates that he had been with Kunene on the night of the shootout.



“I am not the complainant; I’m not the one that reported this to the police. Speak to Kunene for more details. But yes‚ I was with him before the incident took place‚” Motale told TimesLIVE.

Motale made headlines at the weekend after questions he apparently sent to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa about alleged extramarital affairs went viral.

Ramaphosa has condemned what he has called a social media smear campaign against him while Motale has alleged he had received death threats in connection with the story.

Kunene and Motale are good friends and Kunene has previously said their friendship was not a secret.

Kunene spoke to ANN7 about the shooting on the same night and sent out picture of the alleged damage to the car to The Citizen.

According to police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters‚ the police found several bullet cartridges on the scene.

“I cannot go into details but police found empty cartridges‚ which will form part of the investigations. The investigation into the circumstance of the incident is underway‚” said Peters.

JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar could not confirm claims by Kunene that the metro police left the scene without a thorough assessment of the scene and questioning.