The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that the removal of ANC national executive committee member Andile Lungisa from the party’s proportional representation candidate list in Nelson Mandela Bay be declared unconstitutional, unlawful, invalid and of no force or effect.
The court directed the ANC and its secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to ensure that Lungisa’s name is reinstated on the party’s internal list.
Mbalula and the ANC were also ordered to pay Lungisa’s legal costs.
“The applicant’s non-compliance with the normal rules of this Court is hereby condoned, and this application is dealt with on an urgent basis in accordance with Rule 6(12)(b) of the Uniform Rules of Court,” Judge Nelisa Mali ordered.
“To the extent that the Chief Electoral Officer of the fifth respondent, [the Electoral Commission of South Africa], affords the ANC an opportunity to supplement its list under Item 17(1) of Schedule 1 to the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, it is directed that the name of the applicant shall be submitted as part of the supplementary list provided for under this provision.”
Last month, Lungisa filed urgent court papers in the Johannesburg High Court challenging his removal from the party’s mayoral candidate list ahead of the local government elections.
In his court papers, Lungisa said he had been placed at the top of the list, with the provincial list confirming his position as the highest-ranked candidate for the Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral post.
Lungisa said he had been confidentially informed that Mbalula had personally instructed ANC officials responsible for the administrative compilation and submission of the candidate lists to remove his name. He alleged that the officials had acted on that instruction.
“It is this decision that I ask the court to declare unlawful in terms of the ANC guidelines. I seek an order declaring that my name was indeed on the list of ANC candidates and was improperly removed on the unlawful instruction of Mr Mbalula.”