The African National Congress (ANC) needs newly-elected Nelson Mandela Bay regional chairperson Andile Lungisa to win the city back, his supporters have said.

Lungisa is facing dismissal from his position barely two weeks after he was elected to lead the troubled region.

This stems from a ruling by party secretary general Gwede Mantashe that Lungisa could not hold the position as he was already a member of the provincial executive committee.

Lungisa was not eligible to contest a position in a lower structure, Mantashe has said.

But Lungisa defied this order, and instead questioned Mantashe's interpretation of rule 17.4 of the party's constitution.

This week, calls for Lungisa to keep his new position increased, with a number of wards in Nelson Mandela Bay calling for him to be given a chance.

One leader called Lungisa a "brave young lion", while another said he was the "future of the revolution".

Ward 46 secretary Simphiwe Madlavu wrote a letter to the party's top six this week in which he again called for clarity on the constitutional rule being used to prohibit Lungisa from retaining his seat.

"He is young and young people are excited about his election, we need them going forward," Madlavu said in his letter.

Call for stability

He said he was pleading for Lungisa to be allowed to be an exception to the rule, if the rule could even be enforced, on behalf of his ward and the metro.

"We are asking that the top six bring stability and assist us in making sure we focus on our agenda of bringing back the metro to the ANC and the general masses of our people," he said.

"Let him lead us, if he fails, we will equally hold him to account."

Lungisa also received support from suspended ANC Western Cape chairperson Marius Fransman, who used the opportunity to hammer Mantashe.

"Today my status [goes] to a young, highly intelligent, very pragmatic, very grounded, analytical and visionary young man that held very senior positions at a young age, including deputy president of YL, president of Pan African Youth, and now chairperson of a region, comrade Andile Lungisa," Fransman said on Facebook.

"I note with sadness the last two weeks how this young man, Andile Lungisa's character and his very being is being threatened by [the] office of the [secretary general], an office that is supposed to constantly guide, and must constantly direct with the sensitivity of a true leader."

On Friday the Herald reported that Lungisa was in Johannesburg to garner support for his cause ahead of this weekend's national executive committee meeting.

It is not yet clear if the matter will be discussed at the meeting.