MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Assault convict Andile Lungisa vows to lead ANC to outright win in Nelson Mandela Bay

After much debate on his eligibility to contest the mayoral seat in Nelson Mandela Bay, Andile Lungisa is in the clear and has vowed to lead the ANC towards a majority vote — the only way to return stability to the metro, he says.Lungisa was embroiled in a high-profile case after he struck DA councillor Rano Kayser with a glass jar in 2016 and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was released on parole after serving two months.While Lungisa has secured backing from most ANC branches in the region and the Progressive Youth Alliance, the ANC Veterans’ League has questioned whether he should be considered for the position because of his conviction.Speaking to Daily Maverick, Lungisa said he did not just wake up one day and decide that he wanted to become Nelson Mandela Bay’s mayor, but was answering the call from community members to take on the position.“It’s not an easy task, but the structures of the ANC and the communities of Nelson Mandela Bay in the form of business, churches and civil society have spoken. I won’t stand against that. It’s my responsibility to listen and heed the call as the leader of the movement.”Asked about his strategy for adequate services to the communities should he be named the ANC’s mayoral candidate, Lungisa said the key to stabilising the metro was winning an outright majority.“The municipality under the ANC in the era of (former mayors) Nceba Faku, Nondumiso Maphazi and Zanoxolo Wayile delivered services. The city started to collapse when the DA came into power, and the situation was later worsened by the multiparty government of small organisations.“The city is in tatters, and that’s the message to the broader community of the city to say they must remember the good old days when the ANC was the majority party in the Bay. It’s high time we talk to the communities, pleading with them to return us to the old days of the ANC.”Eligibility debateA public debate surrounding Lungisa was sparked in recent weeks when it was revealed that he was a contender for the mayoral seat.Asked about Lungisa’s eligibility, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) spokesperson Sanda Nodada said it was the commission’s responsibility to ensure that candidates on the ballot met the legal requirements for election.“However, whether the IEC can disqualify a candidate with a criminal record depends on the specific constitutional and statutory disqualification criteria – not simply on the existence of a criminal record,” he said.According to the Constitution, a person is disqualified from being elected as a councillor if they have been convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine, and five years have not yet lapsed since the sentence was completed.Lungisa received a sentence exceeding 12 months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine, and his two-year jail sentence after he was convicted in 2020 was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Appeal. However, he was released from prison on 1 December 2020, which means more than five years have passed since his sentence was completed.Nodada said it was the IEC’s job to verify candidate nominations; consider objections lodged against candidates during the prescribed objection period, determine whether a candidate complied with the legal eligibility requirements and reject or remove a candidate if they were legally disqualified.Addressing the assault incident, Lungisa said the matter was closed in 2018.“Rano and I, as victims, have long moved on. We forgave each other and we resolved the issue. When you’re in the political space, people will use things against you. Unfortunately, the matter they are referring to is from 2018 and I took full responsibility. I apologised to him and I’ve been to his house and we shared a meal.”Lungisa said the incident had nothing to do with his ability to lead the city to prosperity.“I’m deployed in various structures and provinces by the ANC, and no one has ever said I lacked anything. People are using the conviction to start up small fires that won’t go anywhere.”Kayser, however, views the relationship quite differently. “Andile has a sense of humour,” he said on Sunday, adding that Lungisa can be quite “dramatic”. ANC politician Andile Lungisa (left) visits DA councillor Rano Kayser. The two were embroiled in a high-profile case after Lungisa assaulted Kayser, striking him on the head with a glass jar. Lungisa was convicted in 2020 of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. (Photo: Supplied / Andile Lungisa) “You must understand that after the incident, we continued to serve in the same legislative structure and because there was a process in place through the criminal justice system, as a leader you cannot do anything. “We were there [in council] together, and our responsibilities dictate that we should behave in a particular manner. “But it does not say anything else. Wherever we meet I will greet him because it is human, but it does not take away from the fact that he was convicted,” Kayser said, adding that he and Lungisa had bumped into each other at a coffee shop on Friday where they chatted, and Lungisa asked whether a photograph could be taken.But Kayser said that “a picture does not exonerate you from a crime”. He also said that he and Lungisa “do not visit each other or call each other”.When asked for his thoughts on Lungisa as a mayoral candidate, Kayser said: “When Andile was MMC (member of the mayoral committee of the Infrastructure, Engineering, Electricity and Energy department), we did not have a good functioning infrastructure department. Now imagine if you can’t manage a department ... imagine running a metro.”Lungisa one of four ANC candidatesLungisa is one of four candidates interviewed by the ANC’s top seven and electoral commission earlier this month in a bid to install a suitable incumbent to lead the city after the local government elections in November.Current Mayor Babalwa Lobishe, former Eastern Cape Health Department Superintendent General Siva Pillay and Xolani Vela are also vying for the nomination.The Progressive Youth Alliance, led by the region’s ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leadership structure, pronounced its support for Lungisa to become mayor during a recent press briefing last week.ANCYL regional convenor Talente Malindi said Lungisa would improve service delivery, arguing that this was why he had secured support from communities.The ANC Youth League Nelson Mandela Bay leadership held a media briefing to announce Andile Lungisa as its preferred mayoral candidate in the local government elections on 4 November 2026. From left: coordinator Ntsikelelo Mnyimba, convener Talent Malindi and Cosas convenor Ovayo Memani. (Photo: Andisa Bonani) 15 July 2026 “We note with appreciation the overwhelming support ANC branches and communities have shown in the former ANCYL deputy president, comrade Andile Lungisa, as nominated by the youth league as a mayoral candidate,” he said.“Earlier this year, all the leagues of the ANC were requested to submit their preferred mayoral candidate. We have also seen that across all the 60 branches that more than 70% have nominated him. We believe that the confidence demonstrated by the branches in Lungisa must be respected.”ANC Veterans League regional chair Mzukisi Mpahlwa, however, said they had written to the ANC interview panel enquiring about Lungisa’s eligibility.“We asked if they are aware of his conviction and reminded them that the ANC Constitution prohibits people who have been criminally charged from being councillors. “They responded, telling us what we already know: that all the candidates will be subjected to a vetting process.” DM