Publications
Partners
The Eastern Cape ANC has reached a stalemate in its Nelson Mandela region after the regional structure rejected its disbandment and vowed to oppose the removal of controversial member Andile Lungisa from the metropolitan council.
Provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukaitobi confirmed the disbandment.
“Those people are not a structure, the Nelson Mandela REC [regional executive committee] does not exist.”
Ngcukaitobi cited several reasons for disbanding the cash-strapped committee.
He said the region was unable to convene a duly constituted regional general council to fill the vacant position of the regional chairperson because it had failed to meet the 70% threshold of branches in good standing.
“There is a significant decline of membership in the region, as per the most recent membership audit.”
Ngcukaitobi said election work in the region had been moving at a snail’s pace and with very few of the Nelson Mandela REC members actively participating in the work.
“The PEC [provincial executive committee] resolved to dissolve the Nelson Mandela REC and establish the regional task team (RTT) that will coordinate the work of the organisation and take the region to its regional conference after next year’s general elections.”
The REC disputed Ngcukaitobi’s comments, accusing him of being factually inaccurate.
“We have evidence that speaks to our successes as a region, critical to these is the fact that we have grown the membership from 5 935 in March last year to 11 934 in March this year.”
Deputy secretary of the REC Desiree Davids said they would fight the PEC.
“No RTT will be installed in this region; we will make sure that it doesn’t come in. We will not appeal because there is no disbandment here.”
Leaders of the region are also opposed to an instruction for Lungisa to step down as member of the mayoral committee in the metro. Regional secretary Themba Xatula said they wanted a letter detailing Lungisa’s dismissal from the national executive committee (NEC).
Xatula said it was standard procedure for deployments to be communicated by letter.
“All we want is a letter quoting the resolution taken by the NEC on the instructed resignation of Andile Lungisa.”
Lungisa spent 16 days in jail after he was convicted for assaulting a DA councillor. He is out on bail, pending an appeal.
PEC member Gift Ngqondi announced two weeks ago that Lungisa should step down as mayoral committee member.
“Due to his pending appeal, the ANC has decided that Andile Lungisa cannot represent the ANC as the mayoral committee member; we have asked him to step down,” he said.
The infrastructure and engineering directorate has the highest budget – R3 billion – in the Bay municipality.
Sources said the province wanted to deploy its own people so that it would have “access to the purse”.
