A political party has offered ANC heavyweight Andile Lungisa a place on its PR election list after the list submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) did not contain his name.
On Tuesday, Lungisa emphatically declined the political lifeline, saying he is firmly on the ANC list and remains a mayoral candidate in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The offer comes amid an ANC candidate-list fiasco in which Lungisa was among several senior party figures left off the proportional representation (PR) lists submitted to the IEC.
The ANC has blamed a technical glitch for the omissions, while the IEC has disputed that explanation.
Lungisa had been shortlisted as one of the ANC candidates for Nelson Mandela Bay mayor ahead of the November 4 municipal elections.
People’s Power president Siyanda Mayana said he had offered Lungisa one of his party’s PR seats after learning that the ANC had apparently failed to include him on its list.
“He is excluded from the list,” Mayana said.
Mayana said he spoke to Lungisa on Monday about the offer, but that he laughed and declined to comment.
“But the offer is still there,” he said.
Mayana said People’s Power had one PR seat available, depending on how many votes the party secured in the municipal elections.
“There is a provision to add more. I will do that. I am offering him a seat,” he said.
“That is what I am offering him. I am serious and firm.”
Lungisa, however, appears to have little interest in changing political T-shirts.
He said he had not been excluded from the ANC’s list, and that he had been voted number one on the party’s Nelson Mandela Bay list after it went through the ANC’s internal processes.
“There might be an error by the ones registering with the IEC,” he said.
“Still, I am a mayoral candidate in Nelson Mandela [Bay].”
Lungisa said his omission, if it had occurred, would not prevent him from being submitted as a councillor after the election results were declared.
“It means when the results are declared, the ANC will submit supplementary names,” he said.
“As a mayoral candidate, my name will be submitted. You don’t have to be on the list.”
He also disputed Mayana’s interpretation of the IEC rules and said the ANC would submit a supplementary party list after the election.
“When results are declared, the [Municipal Electoral Act] comes in. A party then submits a supplementary party list. It is part of the IEC,” he said.
As for Mayana’s offer, Lungisa was unimpressed.
“How can you offer a mayoral candidate from another party this?” he asked.
“People must not raise that I am not on the list. It has no material fact. The names will be submitted when elections are declared.”
Lungisa accused Mayana of playing politics and said he was not taking the offer seriously.
“A senior person like me can’t take this seriously. I can’t entertain such an idea,” he said.
He then delivered a rather less diplomatic assessment of Mayana.
“It comes from someone with a mental disorder. If I entertain that, I also have a mental disorder.”
Lungisa remained adamant that there was no need for a political Plan B.
“I am on the list. I am number 1. That is enough,” he said.
As for whoever was responsible for submitting the ANC’s list to the IEC, Lungisa said: “The person who submitted the list might have been drunk.
“That person must answer to the national executive committee, which I sit on.”
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