Andile Lungisa has secured backing from most ANC branches as he seeks the party’s nomination for mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay ahead of November elections.
Lungisa, who was convicted in 2020 of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after striking a DA councillor with a glass jar in 2016, says he is eligible to stand. He served two months of a two-year sentence and was released on parole on 1 December 2020. More than five years have since passed, meeting constitutional requirements.
He told Daily Maverick that community members and ANC structures had called on him to contest the position. Lungisa argued that only an outright ANC majority could restore service delivery, which he said declined under DA and multiparty governance.
The ANC’s top seven and electoral commission interviewed Lungisa and three other candidates earlier this month. The Progressive Youth Alliance has endorsed him, while the ANC Veterans’ League has raised questions about his eligibility due to the conviction.
