Loyiso Sidimba
CONTROVERSIAL former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor and erstwhile ANC Youth League deputy president Andile Lungisa has been suspended for 18 months from the party and ordered to attend year-long anger management classes.
ANC Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukaitobi informed Lungisa on Wednesday about his suspension.
”This serves to inform you that Comrade Andile Lungisa has been suspended for 18 months by the provincial disciplinary committee (PDC) following his being charged for violating rule 25.17.2 of the ANC constitution,” reads the letter to ANC Nelson Mandela Bay regional task team co-ordinator Luyolo Nqakula.
The rule under which Lungisa was suspended relates to ANC members convicted in a court of law and being sentenced to a term of imprisonment without the option of a fine for any offence.
Lungisa was convicted of assaulting DA councillor Rano Kayser by smashing a glass jug on his head during a rowdy meeting in council chambers in 2016.
He was convicted by the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court in 2018 and his appeals to the Eastern Cape High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court were unsuccessful.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment but was released on parole after only serving two months.
In April, Lungisa was ordered by Eastern Cape High Court Judge Elna Revelas to pay Kayser R844 000 for the pain and suffering he caused him.
Ngcukaitobi said the PDC also directed Lungisa to attend anger management classes for 12 months as part of his rehabilitation process.
He can still appeal the sanction with the ANC’s national disciplinary committee.
In the past few days Lungisa, a staunch supporter of both suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and jailed former president Jacob Zuma, has taken to social media to express his support for the ongoing #FreeJacobZuma protests.
”What you cannot win on the streets won’t be won on a table,” he posted on his Facebook page this past weekend.
On Tuesday, Lungisa distanced himself from claims he was instigating looting seen in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng as part of the #FreeJacobZuma protests and subsequent looting.
”It has come to my attention that lumpens, black informants and settlers are using my name for their nefarious agenda. I will institute legal proceedings against all of them without fear or favour. Please comrades continue to bring their names forward,” he complained.