Early life

Kenny was raised by his mother and grandparents. Kunene's mother has served as an Evangelist and faith healer

Faith Healer

Faith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy.-Synopsis:...

. While he was growing up near Odendaalsrus

Odendaalsrus

Odendaalsrus is the oldest gold mining town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State province in South Africa.-History:It started out in 1912 as a ramshackle collection of farms and a central church that became a town. In April 1946 gold was struck on the farm Geduld near the town...

 his grandmother, a midwife, was the family's sole breadwinner. As as an impoverished teenager living under apartheid, Kunene occasionally traveled to wealthy areas of South Africa to daydream about being rich. and rob people

Career

Kunene attended Vista University

Vista University

Vista University, South Africa was established in 1981 by the apartheid government to ensure that urban black South Africans seeking tertiary education would be accommodated within the townships rather than on campuses reserved for other population groups ....

 and later became an English teacher. Kunene later turned to crime, however, and was imprisoned from 1997 to 2003 after being convicted of running a ponzi scheme

Ponzi scheme

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...

. While in prison, he often organized parties among the inmates to build goodwill among his fellow inmates. After he was release he began marketing the work of former bank robber Gayton McKenzie who had since became a motivational speaker. Kunene and McKenzie then invested in a seafood distribution business. Kunene has also worked as a public relations consultant and lobbyist for mining companies.

Personal life

Kunene currently lives with his three children in Sandton, a part of Metro Johannesburg

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa...

. He is a supporter of the ANC

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

 and is closely connected to some of Jacob Zuma's government contracts top aides.

Kunene is known for his appreciation of sushi

Sushi

is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...

, and has been referred to in South Africa as "The Sushi King" or "Mr. Sushi". He is also an advocate of inter-racial relationships

Miscegenation

Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....

in South Africa.