Andile Lungisa appeals 18-month ANC suspension

Former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andile Lungisa has appealed the 18-month suspension of his ANC membership.

ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said Lungisa had been found guilty of violating the ANC constitution by the party’s provincial disciplinary committee (PDC).

Ngcukayitobi  said the suspension followed Lungisa being charged by the ANC after he was found guilty by a court of law of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and the subsequent custodial sentence of two years without an option of a fine.

However, Lungisa said the ANC constitution could not punish a member who had already been found guilty of an offence and served his or her sentence, as this would be double jeopardy.

He said that provision of the ANC constitution was unconstitutional and unlawful.

“I have already been sanctioned based on the very selfsame allegations of me being found guilty in a court of law for common assault, in that the PEC [provincial executive committee] instructed me last year to relinquish my position as a member of the mayoral committee in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality,” Lungisa said. 

He said the disciplinary committee that found him guilty did not meet the ANC’s rule 19.9.17 of the ANC constitution which states that the PEC shall appoint at least five, but no more than 10, members from the PEC and/or from any structure within the province, one of whom shall be designated as chair, to constitute the PDC.

Only four people formed part of the hearing, he said.

He claimed his charge sheet had not been properly served to him, saying using a sheriff of the court to serve him with the papers for a party matter was against the ANC constitution.

He said the ANC constitution stated that a charge sheet shall be delivered to the charged member or his or her representative within six months from the date when knowledge of a members’ alleged act of misconduct or conviction in a court of law was brought to the attention of the party.

He said he was only served with the charge sheet on March 19 2021 by the sheriff of the court.

He said when he was instructed to step down as a mayoral member, that was a sanction on its own.

“This is totally unfair and tantamount to a third sanction, hence triple jeopardy.

“As such, should I be sanctioned in any way for the same offence of me being convicted of assault, it would be the third time I am receiving a sanction for the selfsame offence and facts,” he said.

“They are trying everything in their powers to take my membership; now they want my life as well.

“Comrades who have worked with me know I do not lead to gain status or praise, but to bend history to our will.”

According to Ngcukayitobi, his office had also been alerted that Lungisa had already appealed with the national disciplinary committee.

Lungisa had also been ordered to attend anger management classes for 12 months by the ANC.

“This is part of rehabilitation process,” Ngcukayitobi said.

Lungisa was convicted of assault in April 2018, having smashed a glass water jug against DA councillor Rano Kayser’s head during a heated council brawl two years earlier.

He was sentenced later to an effective two years’ imprisonment, but served just 16 days in St Albans prison before his protracted appeal process began.

However, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) confirmed his two-year jail term for assault in September 2020.

The SCA had agreed with the magistrate’s court in Gqeberha and two judges in the high court in Makhanda that Lungisa had been the aggressor in the situation.

Lungisa was, however, released in December 2020, just 75 days after he surrendered himself to the North End prison.

A special remission of sentence and easing of overcrowding in prisons amid the Covid-19 pandemic secured him the early release.

ANC provincial spokesperson Gift Ngqondi declined to comment on Lungisa claiming his disciplinary hearing was flawed, saying it was an internal matter that the national disciplinary committee would deal with.

HeraldLIVE