Andile Lungisa

A former ANC Youth League deputy president, he is a member of the ANC National Executive Committee and a Nelson Mandela Bay councillor. He sought the ANC's nomination for Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in the 4 November 2026 local government elections and, in September 2026, challenged in court his removal from the party's list.

Career

Lungisa was born in Tsomo, Eastern Cape, in 1978 and was active in the South African Students Congress before becoming ANC Youth League deputy president from 2008 to 2011 under Julius Malema. He chaired the National Youth Development Agency from 2009 to 2013 and led the Pan-African Youth Union from 2011. He won a Nelson Mandela Bay council seat in 2016, served as member of the mayoral committee for Infrastructure and Engineering from 2018 to 2020, and was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in December 2022.

Positions

Lungisa says that only a return to an outright ANC majority can stabilise Nelson Mandela Bay, and blames DA-led and later multiparty governments for the city's decline. His candidacy was backed in July 2026 by the Progressive Youth Alliance, led by the ANC Youth League. In September 2026 he told Daily Maverick he is ready for the mayoral chain and remains the validly nominated first choice, although he is not on the ANC's proportional representation list, a decision he is contesting in the High Court against Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.

Controversies

In 2016 Lungisa struck DA councillor Rano Kayser on the head with a glass jug during a council meeting. He was convicted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sentenced to two years in prison, a sentence the Supreme Court of Appeal confirmed in 2020. He was released on parole on 1 December 2020 after about two months. Daily Maverick reports that more than five years have passed since the sentence ended, so he is eligible to stand. He says he took responsibility and apologised, and the ANC Veterans' League has questioned his suitability.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · Daily Maverick · Daily Maverick · Wikipedia