LUNGISA TAKES MBALULA TO COURT: ANC'S NELSON MANDELA BAY LIST COLLAPSES INTO WAR
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
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The ANC's internal war has left the courtroom and entered the Electoral Commission.
ANC NEC member Andile Lungisa has taken ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula and the ANC itself to court over his dramatic omission from the party's Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate list - a move that has exposed the complete breakdown of the ANC's internal machinery just weeks before elections.
Lungisa launched urgent legal proceedings in the High Court in Johannesburg on Thursday, asking the court to declare the decision to remove his name as unlawful, invalid and unconstitutional.
In his application, Lungisa alleges that Mbalula personally instructed ANC officials who were capturing the party's lists to remove his name from the list.
He states his candidature was publicly announced by the President of the ANC and confirmed by the SG, and that his name had already been captured on the IEC system before the deadline of August 29. The removal, he argues, is a technical difficulty while the IEC has disputed the party's explanation that affected candidates had been captured but were not final.
In a stunning admission, Mbalula acknowledged that some mayoral candidates were left off the list due to an error and said the issue would be resolved, adding that those nominated by the ANC's top leadership would ultimately be included.
The ANC on the other side has approached the Electoral Court, asking that any candidate whose details were captured on the IEC system before the deadline be recognised as having been properly nominated.
In Lungisa's High Court case, Mbalula is cited as the first respondent and the ANC as the second respondent. ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri did not respond at the time of publication on Saturday.
Lungisa warns of serious consequences: "If the declaration that I seek is granted, my name will be first to be considered for the supply. However, if it is removed as matters stand, I would have forfeited the position, which would be in conflict with the decisions democratically taken by branches who have nominated me."
He calls it "a serious violation of my political rights and those who supported him."
The case is expected to be heard on September 29.
Political analyst Professor Theo Neethling says Lungisa's decision to sue his own Secretary-General exposes how badly the ANC's internal machinery is broken.
"This signals a serious collapse of internal confidence when a senior comrade takes his own structure to court to resolve a dispute instead of internal mechanisms. This is a symptom of a party leadership consumed by power struggles and paralysis as it gears for the decisive battle of 2027," Neethling said.
Another analyst, Zaid Nhlovu, added: "This shows more people are losing confidence in the ANC's internal dispute resolution. We could see more people approaching the courts to adjudicate the legitimacy of the November elections. Another own goal by the ANC."
The deeper problem is scarcity. With its electoral support dramatically weakened, municipal positions have become even more valuable, turning candidate lists into battlefields for patronage, influence and survival. Nelson Mandela Bay is crucial to the ANC's attempted urban comeback.
This is not new. The Lungisa-Mbalula war spans over a decade, rooted in the ANC's 2012 Mangaung conference where Lungisa opposed Mbalula, then a powerful Youth League general. Lungisa later claimed Mbalula engineered his removal as ANCYL Deputy President.
The feud exploded during the 2013 Waterkloof landing scandal and again when Lungisa, on bail, publicly accused Mbalula - then Sports Minister - of ordering the state to oppose his bail.
Lungisa's overall sentence was later reduced by 12 months through a special remission granted by President Cyril Ramaphosa. He was released on parole in December 2020 and says his sentence formally expired in 2015, making him eligible to stand for public office under the Constitution.
The Azanian View: When branches nominate but Luthuli House deletes, democracy dies. This is no longer about a list - it is about whether the ANC still respects its own members.
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