African National Congress National Executive Committee member Andile Lungisa has launched urgent legal proceedings against party Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula following his removal from the Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate list.
The urgent application, filed in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, demands that the court declare his removal unconstitutional, unlawful, and invalid. Lungisa is seeking an order to compel Mbalula to restore his name to the party’s proportional representation candidate list ahead of the upcoming local government elections scheduled for 4 November 2026.
The legal battle stems from Lungisa’s assertion that his nomination had successfully passed through all internal party channels and received formal endorsement from the ANC National Executive Committee.
According to court documents, Lungisa claims he was voted number one on the internal regional list and was publicly announced as a shortlisted candidate during an official party event in Johannesburg. However, he alleges that Mbalula later bypassed party protocols by personally instructing administrative officials to delete his name from the final list submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
In his founding affidavit, Lungisa argues that the Secretary-General lacked the unilateral authority to alter the candidate list. He highlights party rules stating that any adjustments to an NEC-approved list require serious grounds and must be ratified by an 80 percent majority of the extended NEC.
Prior to initiating litigation, Lungisa sent an email to national leadership warning that the management of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro was in free fall and that overriding branch choices would result in severe electoral consequences. His legal representative, Sinawo Makangela, has maintained that the case against the party leadership is structurally robust due to these clear procedural violations.
Fikile Mbalula has publicly noted the litigation, stating that the matter will now be decided by the judiciary. Mbalula argued that Lungisa should have exhausted internal ANC dispute mechanisms to resolve his grievances instead of rushing to the high court.
While Mbalula directed specific campaign-related list questions to party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, broader internal reports have simultaneously pointed fingers at other regional administrators for separate disruptions in the Eastern Cape list submissions.
This high-profile dispute occurs amid a broader candidate registration crisis for the governing party. The ANC is concurrently engaged in separate litigation before the Electoral Court after the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) refused to process 181 candidate submissions across six municipalities due to missed system deadlines.
The Gauteng High Court is scheduled to hear Lungisa’s urgent application on 26 September 2026, just weeks before South Africans head to the polls.