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Criminally convicted former ANC councillor Andile Lungisa’s statements on petitioning the Acting Mayor, Cllr Thsonono Buyeye, and Speaker, Cllr Buyelwa Mafaya, to postpone all council meetings until February 2021 is just another example of the ANC and its connected cadres’ desperation to hold on to power and loot the coffers of Nelson Mandela Bay.

The DA will not be instructed on when municipal meetings should be held by a convicted criminal and prisoner. Lungisa is not behind bars, but he is still very much a prisoner. It is only the ANC that can be instructed by a prisoner.

This is just another attempt to hamper the election of an Executive Mayor, as ordered by the Port Elizabeth High Court, and an example of the ANC using the devastating Covid-19 pandemic as a tool to keep stealing from the people of the Metro.

It is also clear that Lungisa is in denial of the fact that he was convicted of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm as he is now styling himself as a “political prisoner” who only fought against the Democratic Alliance. His efforts to draw parallels between him and former President Nelson Mandela are shocking and should be treated with the disdain it deserves.

Lungisa was sentenced to an effective two years in jail after he broke a glass water jug over the head of DA councillor Rano Kayser during a council meeting in 2016. Less than three months after he entered the North End Prison in Port Elizabeth to start serving his two year sentence, he has been released on parole.

The DA believes Lungisa’s release, even taking all parole regulations in to account, is irregular and makes a mockery of our justice system. Accordingly, the DA's Additional Deputy Spokesperson on Correctional Services, James Selfe MP, yesterday posed questions to the portfolio committee on correctional services in this regard. Answers to these questions are expected tomorrow.

All citizens must be treated equally and Lungisa should not get preferential treatment due to his political connections within the ANC. He was an integral part of the ANC-led Coalition of Corruption government that has brought this City to its knees.

This corrupt cabal must be removed from power.

The DA will not rest until all of those that are guilty of criminality face the full might of the law.

The DA, with the assistance of its coalition partners and the residents of the City, can take Nelson Mandela Bay forward. Together we can fix this mess – we have done it before and we can do it again.

Issued by DA