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Cape Town – An elected leader must not be a coward, the ANC’s Andile Lungisa said on Monday.
Lungisa stepped down from his position as chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Bay ANC, two weeks after he was elected.
Now, he will be focusing his energies on his campaign for the provincial secretary position, before the party holds an elective conference later this year.
Following the announcement of his resignation, Lungisa said he respected all structures of the organisation, and an individual sometimes had to be willing to die for the organisation to rise.
The regional ANC had made their point, he said.
"Everyone knows that the leadership is not weak, it’s a strong one," he said.
Lungisa had refused to step down after party general secretary Gwede Mantashe said he was not ineligible to run for the position, as he was also a member of the provincial executive committee (PEC).
He questioned that interpretation of the party’s constitution.
"We have a responsibility of discussing those issues without fear or favour," Lungisa said.
He said they had defended the outcome of the conference, and now they had to support and respect a decision from the national executive committee (NEC).
He expressed confidence in deputy chairperson Phumzile Tshuni, who would be acting in the position until a new leader could be appointed.
Loopholes in constitution
In a letter to provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane, confirming his resignation, Lungisa said he was ready to accept guidance from the structures.
"I again wish to reiterate that my accepting the nomination as the chairman of the REC of the Nelson Mandela Metro was motivated solely by my desire to revive the ANC in a beleaguered region and return our organisation to its rightful position of power."
He would go back to the serving in the PEC, he said in the letter, which News24 has seen.
He, however, expressed a need for the ANC to "make Rule 17.4 unambiguous for future generations".
On Monday, Mantashe said the NEC had referred the Lungisa matter back to the PEC to deal with.
Lungisa said he was going back to the PEC knowing the region was in safe hands.
The regional executive committee (REC) on Monday said the Lungisa issue had shown that there were loopholes in the party constitution that had to be dealt with.
These had to be rectified when the party had its national conference, they said.
'We not are dictating to them'
Regional secretary Themba Xathula said they would throw their weight behind Lungisa’s campaign.
"But we will allow the organisational structures to endorse the decision, but we not are dictating to them, but guiding them. We will take the matter of constitutional amendment to the National Conference and 54th National Conference in particular Rule 17.4 and Rule 5.1.4 that talks about rights of members to be elected to any structure."
Lungisa has resigned despite a glowing endorsement from President Jacob Zuma, who praised the Nelson Mandela Bay leadership for electing young people.
They did not just elect balding and grey leaders, he said at the time.
"We look at the quality of the person, you look at the energy of the person. We look at the consistency of the person. In other words, we choose the leader because we have explained how," he said.
He called on members to respect the outcome of the congress, even as the letter exchange continued between Mantashe and Lungisa.
