A retired school principal, Fortune Kunene and his eldest son Keith bought a small fresh milk outlet in the township where they sold Clover products. Soon they added Coca Cola products from Nigel Bottling Industries which then held the proxy for Coca Cola in South Africa. Demand for Coca Cola products by the local spaza shop owners was high and the Kunene’s realised that they had to set up an independent cooldrink distribution business.
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The wholesale cooldrink business was so successful that by 1991 the business was appointed the official distributor of Coca-Cola brands by Nigel Bottling Industries. Prior to Coca-Cola's return to South Africa in October 1994 the Kunene Brothers were the largest independent distributors of Coca-Cola in this country. In September 1994 they acquired of a 51% interest in Coca-Cola Bottling Mpumalanga (Pty) Ltd (CCBM). In addition to the bottling business, the Kunene Bros by the late 80’s they had established other businesses which included a general wholesaler and liquor outlets. They were also the exclusive distributor of Clover products in the east rand.
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With the advent of democracy in 1994 the brothers seized the opportunity corporatise the business. Thus was the establishment of Kunene Bros Holdings as we know it today. As an investment holding business we have interests in beverages, motor retail, telecommunications and defence electronics.
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In recent years the founder shareholders have gradually stepped down from the business. In 2023 the founder shareholders officially passed the baton on to the next generation.