Zuma endorses Lungisa’s appointment in NMB, but Mantashe not happy

President Jacob Zuma has endorsed the election of former African National Congress Youth League deputy leader Andile Lungisa as chairman of the ANC’s Nelson Mandela Bay metro regional executive committee (REC) despite this apparently being contrary to the ANC constitution.

Zuma was addressing delegates on Sunday at the ANC’s regional elective conference in Port Elizabeth. Making eye contact with Lungisa, Zuma said the party looked at “quality, energy, and consistency” when electing leaders.

“In other words we choose the leader because we can explain why. A leader we can say is going to make us deliver on our programmes and policies. If the majority has spoken, it has spoken. Ours is to respect that decision and take it as our own for the health of the organisation. We are in trying times as the organisation that must be clear to us,” Zuma told the cheering crowd.

After receiving a report he was happy with the outcome of the elective conference where “everything had run smoothly”. The ANC needed to strive for unity in order to regain lost ground, Zuma said.

Lungisa, a member of the provincial executive committee (PEC), officially accepted nomination for the lower REC position in Nelson Mandela Bay despite ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe warning that it went against the party’s constitution.

On Saturday, Lungisa indicated to media that he had decided to decline the nomination. But a few hours later he was in the running along with Tony Duba, and in the election beat Duba by 71 votes to 57.

Lungisa later defended himself by saying that the matter of electing any member of the ANC resided with the branches of the ANC. He said no individual was above ANC structures.

The ANC’s amended constitution states that people in higher structures may not contest positions in lower structures.

In a letter sent to all provincial structures earlier this week, Mantashe said any attempt to resign from the PEC to be able to stand for a position at a regional conference should not be allowed. According to reports Mantashe has warned that Lungisa will be “dealt with” through party mechanisms.

The Eastern Cape PEC said it would wait to be advised on the way forward once it had received the elective conference report. ANC eastern Cape secretary Oscar Mabuyane said the decision could not be allowed to go unchallenged because it would set a wrong precedent.

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