The Free Lungisa Campaign says they believe that Nelson Mandela Bay African National Congress (ANC) politician Andile Lungisa will be released from jail on Tuesday and are preparing to welcome him back to society.
Lungisa is serving a two-year sentence for assaulting a Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor with a glass jar during a council meeting in 2016.
He was jailed this year September for the offence and has made applications for leave to appeal his prison sentence.
The Convenor of the Free Lungisa Campaign Abner Massasa says the Department of Correctional Services is releasing Lungisa among a group of prisoners to decrease the number of inmates amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“He told me that the Department of Correctional Services has got him at the North End Prison and assured him and has given him the assurance that he will be out of prison on 1 December. This is the end, he is out of prison. He is a free man. He has served his sentence. The Department of Correctional Services has issued a statement that it would release a particular number of prisoners and I think in the EC it will be about 400 due to the climate of COVID-19 but those would be prisoners with minor offences. So Lungisa is part of the criteria and is very lucky to have been released so quickly.”
In the video below, Andile Lungisa begins jail sentence:
Statement against judiciary
Lungisa retracted a statement made to the judiciary after he accused it of political influence in his case.
He said his case was unfairly treated due to political influence and corruption at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
After being granted bail of R10 000, Lungisa opted to remain in jail while petitioning the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal.
Lungisa’s supporters have always rallied behind him, saying they will stand by him until the end:
