Court orders ANC to put Lungisa back on its list
A judge found the party's secretary-general had no power to strike the mayoral hopeful from the Nelson Mandela Bay list. The election is on 4 November.
Johannesburg — A South African high court has ruled that the African National Congress acted unlawfully when it removed Andile Lungisa from its list of candidates in Nelson Mandela Bay, Daily Maverick reports.
Judge Nelisa Mali ordered the party on Friday to reinstate him on its proportional representation list and to pay his legal costs.
"The decision to unilaterally remove the applicant's name from the second respondent's proportional representation list was accordingly unlawful and unconstitutional," she said.
What the court found
Lungisa, who hopes to be the city's mayor, was told on 28 August that his name had been taken off by the party's secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula. Thirty-five of the 60 branches had voted for him.
The party's main defence was that he had not attended its vetting process. The judge said it had failed to prove that. She also found that Mbalula had no authority to remove him alone: the secretary-general's role, she said, is not "an unrestricted discretion to amend the final list".
She added a caution. A member's right to take part in a party "is not a right to demand that the party select him as a candidate irrespective of its rules".
Mbalula was not held personally liable.
Too late for the ballot?
Local elections are on 4 November. According to the report, Lungisa's reinstatement may only be possible through a supplementary list after the vote.
The Electoral Commission has separately excluded 181 ANC candidates in six municipalities. The Constitutional Court is expected to hear that case on 12 October.
This report is based on reporting by Daily Maverick.
