Nelson Mandela Bay African National Congress (ANC) Councillor Andile Lungisa has been suspended by the party for his conviction for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm against Democratic Alliance (DA) Councillor Ryno Kayser during a council meeting in 2016.
Lungisa was sentenced to an effective two years in prison and is currently appealing the sentence.
He is among a group of councillors that the party’s highest decision-making body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), has asked to resign as they are facing criminal charges.
The National Executive Committee’s decision was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa recently. In the video below, President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the media after the NEC meeting:
ANC Provincial Spokesperson Loyiso Magqashela has confirmed that Lungisa was served with a letter of suspension.
“I can confirm that Andile has been directed to resign as a councillor in the Metro and secondly resign in participating and being the leader in his branch Ward 2 in the same region. The conditions are therefore that he should not be representing the ANC in any gathering and also participating in the municipality affairs.”
Lungisa says he will respond to the letter of his suspension. “I’m going to respond to the letter which was written by the Provincial Secretary. It is an internal matter I will attend to it internally. I won’t have any comments about the matter. I’m a disciplined member of the ANC. I will respond to that matter internally.”
