Andile Lungisa addresses supporters as a free man

Former Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor Andile Lungisa spent his first hours as a free man addressing his supporters at a rally outside the Port Elizabeth City Hall on Tuesday.

Flanked by members of the Free Andile Lungisa Campaign, consisting of former ANC Youth League leaders who served alongside him, he thanked his supporters for standing by him.

After spending 75 days in prison, Lungisa told journalists during a  media conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel  that he now understood some of the compromises made by Nelson Mandela’s generation post-1994.

Referring to himself as a “political prisoner”, Lungisa said it was time for new leadership within the ANC.

“It’s high time we’re able to march and not blame Mandela and Oliver Tambo. It’s our responsibility to take the country forward and forge a new path.

“It’s a path where the ANC must be forced to adopt. We need to change the ANC,” he said.

He said black people needed to take control of the economy of the country.

Lungisa was released on parole on Tuesday after serving 75 days of his two-year sentence for the 2016 assault of DA councillor Rano Kayser.

He benefited from a special remission of sentence and easing of overcrowding in prisons amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among ANC leaders that travelled to Port Elizabeth to welcome him were former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, former finance minister Des van Rooyen and Eastern Cape legislature deputy speaker Mlibo Qoboshiyane.

HeraldLIVE