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- Nelson Mandela Bay ANC Councilor Andile Lungisa remained defiant when he appeared in prison on Thursday.
- Lungisa was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison for assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm in 2018.
- The conviction was for breaking a glass water jug on the head of DA councilman Rano Kayser during a council fight in 2016.
Nelson Mandela Bay ANC Councilor and former ANC Youth League Vice President Andile Lungisa remained defiant in his final moments of freedom Thursday.
When the doors of the North End Prison in Port Elizabeth, historically known as “Rooi Hell”, slammed shut behind him, he claimed he had done nothing wrong, Dispatch Live reported.
Lungisa was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison for assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm in 2018, News24 reported.
The conviction was for breaking a glass water jug on the head of DA councilman Rano Kayser during a council fight in 2016.
He appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA), which rejected his request last week after finding there was no basis for interfering with the lower court’s ruling. It found that the lower court had adequately balanced Lungisa’s circumstances, the nature and gravity of the crime committed, and the interests of society.
Lungisa has now turned to the Constitutional Court in hopes of overturning his conviction.
READ | Andile Lungisa: ‘I will go to jail, if I go to jail, and I will come back to liberate my community’
Supporters out of prison
According to the Daily Dispatch, outside the prison grounds, ANC supporters gathered, sang fight songs, prayed, and then brought Lungisa to the reception area, where he handed himself over to prison services officials just before noon.
He had reportedly raised concerns about prison conditions in his latest documents filed with the Constitutional Court this week, saying that the food was disgusting, the sleeping arrangements less than comfortable, that there was no privacy when using the bathroom and that he was at real risk of contracting Covid-19 while behind bars.
Outside the prison on Thursday, he reportedly said that he and Kayser had solved their problems and that Kayser did not want to see him incarcerated.
He also reportedly claimed that the video footage of the incident had been “manipulated” and also attacked the five SCA judges, saying they had treated him unfairly due to his political position.
Early Thursday, ANCYL convener Thandi Mahambehlala addressed Lungisa supporters in Port Elizabeth, saying that he was being hunted by the “old guard” and that his time would come.
Mahambehlala, who was part of the leadership of the Youth League in the Western Cape when Lungisa was the vice president, pledged her support for the former leader.
Request for bond extension
“Andile is one of us. Those who are not here today, I want to tell you that every dog has its day. This persecution that we see today of Andile by the old guard, we are saying that his time will come. We are here as this generation to make sure Andile doesn’t walk alone through the prison walls, “he said.
He added that, as the younger generation, they would rally against whatever enemy they saw, “and we made sure to eliminate that enemy.”
A request for an extension of Lungisa’s bond will be filed on Monday at 2:00 PM at the Eastern Cape Superior Court in Makhanda. The National Prosecutor’s Office has indicated that it will oppose the request.
– Compiled by Riaan Grobler
