Lungisa accuses Mbalula of ordering his removal from ANC list

African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC) member Andile Lungisa has accused secretary-general Fikile Mbalula of personally instructing party officials to remove his name from the ANC’s candidate list, alleging that the move was politically motivated and unlawful.

Lungisa has petitioned the Johannesburg High Court in a bid to have his removal from the list declared unlawful.

“Mr Mbalula convened the meeting envisaged in clause 9.6.5 at a hotel in Johannesburg and instructed the officials to remove my name,” Lungisa’s affidavit reads.

Lungisa alleges Mbalula conspired against him

The former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor claims his name had been included as the ANC’s number one mayoral candidate before it was removed following an instruction he alleges came directly from Mbalula.

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According to Lungisa’s court papers, Mbalula called a meeting at a Johannesburg hotel with ANC officials involved in the administrative process of compiling and submitting the party’s candidate lists. Lungisa alleges that Mbalula instructed the officials to remove his name because he would cause “problems” if he was allowed to contest.

He claims several ANC members witnessed the alleged instruction and are prepared to provide affidavits confirming his version if Mbalula disputes it. Lungisa has challenged Mbalula to respond to the allegation under oath.

“I invite him to provide a version under oath in regard to the specific allegation that he instructed the deletion of my name,” he says.

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He further says he reserves the right to pursue perjury charges against Mbalula should his allegation be denied and later contradicted by witnesses.

Court must confirm his name was on list

Lungisa is not currently asking the court to order the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to amend the candidate list already submitted to it.

Instead, he wants the court to make a declaratory order confirming that his name was on the ANC’s list and that it was improperly removed.

“I only seek a declaration that in the ANC list I am the number 1 nominated candidate for the position of Mayor,” he says.

He argues that the alleged removal affected his constitutional political rights, including his right to participate in the activities of a political party and to stand for public office. Lungisa also argues that the dispute extends beyond his own political ambitions, saying ANC members who supported him and voters in the affected metropolitan area could also be prejudiced if the alleged irregularity is left unchallenged.

Mbalula under fire for list chaos

The ANC NEC member has also criticised Mbalula’s handling of the party’s wider candidate-list crisis.

He accuses the secretary-general of avoiding accountability by not convening an NEC meeting to explain the ANC’s failure to submit all its candidate information to the IEC. Lungisa says he is an NEC member but had to learn about the problems with the lists through media reports.

This comes amid the ongoing row over candidate list manipulation within the ANC’s ranks. ANC members affected have claimed that their names were removed despite receiving a majority of the community votes. While some believe their names were removed when the party loaded the councillor candidates and PR lists to the IEC’s Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) system.

The ANC is also taking the IEC to court after it claims that they were unable to load 188 candidates in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State due to a “technical glitch”.

He describes the failure to convene the NEC as an attempt to avoid scrutiny and argues that internal ANC remedies cannot reasonably be expected to resolve the dispute under the circumstances.

Lungisa also takes aim at Mbalula’s September 8 media briefing, accusing him of failing to properly account for the problems affecting candidates. He describes the briefing as a lengthy explanation that, in his view, did not adequately address the consequences of the ANC’s submission failures.

The ANC conducted a forensic investigation into alleged tampering with candidate lists, particularly in the Eastern Cape.

However, Lungisa disputes the rationale behind the investigation and alleges that it is being used to divert attention from Mbalula’s own responsibilities in the submission process.

He also questions how an investigation of such significance could be completed within three days.

“This is impossible, unless the intention is to give a predetermined outcome and a white-wash which will simply say Mr Mbalula is innocent and everyone else is guilty.”

He questions the independence of the investigation, arguing that an independent figure such as a retired judge should have been appointed to oversee the process.

“If Mr Mbalula wanted an independent investigation, he should have appointed a retired judge or a person of comparable integrity and independence,” he says.

Lungisa warns that the dispute requires urgent judicial intervention, arguing that the continued exclusion of his name could cause lasting harm to his political rights. He says the court’s intervention is necessary to prevent what he regards as an unlawful decision from going unchallenged.

“Even as an NEC member, I am left with the distinct impression that he is being allowed to do as he pleases,” Lungisa says.

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