The former Nelson Mandela Bay African National Congress (ANC) councillor, Andile Lungisa, says he knows the pain of being a political figure and then being sent to prison by those who are conspiring against you.
Lungisa was sentenced to to two years imprisonment for assaulting DA councillor, Rayno Kayser with a water jug in 2016 during a brawl in a council meeting.
He was reflecting on his journey against the backdrop of former president Jacob Zuma being sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for contempt of court.
Lungisa only served two months of his sentence and was released on parole when a special remission of sentence was applied to relieve overcrowding in prisons.
He says there was never any shame, humiliation or fear.
“I’m a revolutionary, I take every pain, I’m not a cry baby, I can’t cry. I was part of the revolutionary struggle when I was just 9-year-old, when I was born by my parents. My parents were fighters, even my great grandfather died in 1945 in second world war. We are coming from a family of warriors, we have been fighting and we never take a back seat.”
“So I’m saying, I’m coming from that home [of fighters]. You can put me in prison, you can put me under ground, you can put me in Robben Island [prison] you can put me in the middle of the sea, to me it is just an experience that makes me come our stronger. I came out stronger, I was stronger outside prison, stronger inside and even stronger now,” explains Lungisa.
But prison was not a waste for Lungisa, who says there are valuable lessons to be learned inside.
“The treatment is the same, you don’t get special food in prison, you get the same food which comes during lunch and supper because you only get two meals. The treatment is the same, there is really nothing different, you are in prison all of you. But it depends on each individual how you are going to carry yourself, your behaviour inside prison is what matters most,” he adds.
Lungisa says Zuma is also being targeted, like he was, but he must not relent his position.
This morning as ordinary SA we will deliver a Petition to the Judicial Service Commission, the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, the National Council of Provinces, the President of the Republic and the Constitutional Court. About the recent judgment by Justice Khampepe
— Andile Lungisa (@mrlungisa) July 2, 2021
Update on developments in Nkandla as Zuma supporters gather:
