The African National Congress (ANC) in Nelson Mandela Bay region has given Andile Lungisa 72 hours to resign as a councillor, HeraldLIVE reported on Monday.
The controversial councillor was also asked to resign as a task team member of his ANC branch. The ultimatum is reportedly based on his conviction in 2018 for assaulting a fellow councillor back in 2016. Lungisa is currently appealing his sentence, but not the conviction.
Temporary suspension of membership
“By directive you are to tender your resignation as a councillor in Nelson Mandela Bay within the next 72 hours. I have written to the provincial secretary requesting the [provincial executive council] through its structures to enact rule 25.70 of the constitution of the ANC to temporarily suspend your membership with immediate effect,” the Bay’s regional task team co-ordinator Luyolo Nqakula wrote in a letter to Lungisa on Sunday.
The ultimatum comes almost a month after Lungisa resigned as the Bay’s mayoral committee member for infrastructure and engineering.
It also comes a week after he wrote a letter to the ANC’s top 6 officials asking for the party’s Integrity Commission to “pronounce” on the CR17 campaign donations. The campaign propelled President Cyril Ramaphosa to the ANC’s presidency in 2017.
Speaking to HeraldLIVE, Lungisa said the ultimatum for him to resign is “expediency” borne out of his letter to the top 6 officials. “They are trying to counterattack it,” he claimed.
Use of money
In the letter, Lungisa accused Ramaphosa of allegedly using money to win the ANC National Conference held at NASREC in Johannesburg in 2017.
He wrote, “In the history of the ANC this has never happened. It is foreign culture in the movement where money is raised by businesspeople in support of a candidate to emerge using their financial influence which was proven to influence the conference outcome.
“This action is in direct contravention of rule 25 of the ANC constitution and the Integrity Committee must pronounce on this if we are to continue being the legitimate leader of society.”
Lungisa seemingly anticipated that he could be victimised as a result of his letter. “I hope that this letter will remain within the structures of the organisation and that state institutions will not be used to attack me including the nakedly partisan media that act as a mouthpiece of the neo-settler ruling class,” he wrote.
Ramaphosa has since indicated to the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) that he will appear before the Integrity Commission to explain the CR17 campaign donations.
“He [Ramaphosa] has made contact with the Integrity Committee and he will be presenting himself there for a discussion on the CR17 funds,” ANC Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte said during an interview with eNCA on Sunday.