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By ANA Reporter 
September 17, 2020
Cape Town – Andile Lungisa, a disgraced Eastern Cape ANC politician, appeared in prison on Thursday to begin serving his two-year sentence for assaulting a Nelson Mandela Bay councilor.
Supporters greeted him when he arrived at the city’s North End prison.
However, the National Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that Lungisa plans to request bail pending the result of his request for authorization to appeal his sentence.
He went to the Constitutional Court in a last-ditch attempt to overturn the sentence after the Supreme Court of Appeals confirmed it earlier this month.
The SCA maintained that Lungisa had committed a serious crime with life-threatening consequences when he smashed a glass water jug on the head of Councilman Rayno Kayser at a meeting in 2016.
Lungisa’s lawyers are expected to request bail Monday morning.
The ruling party ordered him to resign from his position as councilor and member of the ANC provincial executive committee following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that those facing serious charges should step down.
Lungisa was sentenced to three years in prison, with a one-year suspension, by the Grahamstown Superior Court in 2018 after he was convicted of assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm.
Kayser lost consciousness in the attack.
Subsequently, the higher court dismissed his appeal to both the conviction and the sentence.
He then tried to convince the SCA that his sentence was “shockingly” excessive, but the court ruled that he had not lived up to his position and responsibilities as a councilor.
African News Agency (ANA)
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