Nelson Mandela Bay Metro ANC councillor Andile Lungisa must resign as a mayoral executive member.
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa led his top officials in attendance at a national working committee (NWC) meeting at the East London ICC on Monday, where the committee announced its decision to endorse a national executive committee decision (NEC) that Lungisa had to be recalled.
ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi confirmed the decision, saying “all the top officials did was to endorse a standing resolution of the NEC that this comrade must resign from the metro executive”.
Reacting to the news, Lungisa said: "That is a internal matter. The NEC will communicate with me, not via the media [if there is such a decision].
“I never wrote a letter requesting to be deployed as a member of the mayoral committee.”
Lungisa’s troubles began earlier this year when he was found guilty of assaulting a fellow councillor.
He is out on bail pending an appeal.
The 80-member ANC NEC spent last weekend assessing the state of readiness of the province for the 2019 polls.
This was the third province they had visited after Gauteng and Free State.
The NWC, an implementing agent of the NEC, also used its visit to address a few outstanding issues including the PEC’s decision to disband the Bay’s regional executive committee (REC).
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the NWC had deferred the appeal submitted by the PE-based REC to a NWC meeting scheduled for next Monday.
Another case set to be finalised when the NWC meets on Monday is an update on the outcome of a national appeals committee probe that was led by party deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte into the legitimacy of the WB Rubusana elective conference last September in BCM.
This was after some Rubusana branches filed disputes to the committee claiming credentials of the conference were not legitimate.
“We’ve agreed to reconvene the meeting because some NWC members had prior commitments, which means the next NWC meeting on Monday will have to deal with these outstanding issues,” said Mabe...