“Everyone knows that I’m the mayor here,” ANC councillor and member of the mayoral committee Andile Lungisa joked on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the Eastern Cape provincial Treasury stakeholder engagement session – in partnership with The Herald – at the Nelson Mandela University campus in Summerstrand.
Thanking his political foe, Eastern Cape finance MEC Oscar Mabuyane, for his “aggressive” leadership style, Lungisa said sometimes it was necessary to adopt a “little bit of a dictatorship” approach.
But Mabuyane quipped: “I’m going to have to stop you right there.
“There is still the matter of that decision [involving you].”
He was alluding to the ongoing battle between Lungisa and the ANC in the province over his [Lungisa’s] refusal to step down from the Bay mayoral committee. Lungisa had been instructed by the ANC Eastern Cape provincial executive committee to step down as a member of the mayoral committee while he appealed against an assault conviction and sentence in the Grahamstown High Court.
The decision to have him step down was endorsed by the ANC’s national bosses and national working committee.
Lungisa challenged the decision, maintaining that he was waiting for an official response in this regard from ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule’s office.
Only minutes before Lungisa walked into the venue, Mabuyane touched on ill-discipline. He said political parties had to address wrongdoing by drawing a clear line.
“Because you’ve allowed this anarchy to degenerate to where we are, some believe they can still hang around and play hide-and-seek.
“One thing I can assure you is when a decision is taken, we can delay on implementing it because you’re running, you’re a fugitive, but we’re going to find you and make sure it is implemented.
“Political complexities [in government] are a mere reflection of ill-discipline. We’re not going to use the administration to solve political problems,” Mabuyane said.
“Political parties must take responsibility and something that’s wrong must be wrong and you cannot hide behind factions.”