ANC denies conflict with Chikane, confirms Lungisa mayoral candidate legal battle

The ANC has denied reports that Reverend Frank Chikane is taking the party to court after being excluded from the councillor candidate lists submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

In a statement on Sunday, the party’s spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said Chikane remains a disciplined member of the party despite being left off both the ward councillor and PR councillor lists.

“The ANC categorically rejects as false and without factual foundation reports claiming that Rev. Dr Frank Chikane has instituted legal proceedings against the ANC. Rev. Chikane has not taken the ANC to court. We are deeply disappointed that some media colleagues have published and amplified this falsehood without undertaking the most basic fact-checking with either the ANC or the reverend.

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“Chikane is a longstanding, disciplined and respected member of the ANC who understands the machinery, processes and internal mechanisms of the movement. His decades of service have consistently demonstrated his commitment to organisational discipline, collective responsibility and the established processes through which ANC members engage their organisation. Attempts to manufacture a conflict between Rev. Chikane and the ANC are therefore both reckless and misleading,” said Bhengu.

Questions over Chikane’s candidacy

According to reports, Chikane is among 51 of the ANC’s mayoral candidates whose names did not make the councillor candidate lists submitted to the IEC. The party has blamed administrative errors for this.

It is still unclear if Chikane will continue as the party’s mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg, since there are also reports that Chikane told his party that he is not interested in the position. The party has three mayoral candidates for the metro, with the current mayor, Dada Morero, and the chairperson of the ANC in the region, Loyiso Masuku, also in the running.

Andile Lungisa litigation

Meanwhile, Bhengu has confirmed that Andile Lungisa, who is their mayoral candidate in Nelson Mandela Bay, is taking the party to court after his name was also not submitted to the IEC. Lungisa is also a member of the party’s national executive committee (NEC).

“The ANC confirms that legal representatives acting on behalf of Cde Andile Lungisa have served the organisation with legal papers. The ANC will respond appropriately through the prescribed legal processes.

“Given that the matter is now before the courts, the ANC will not litigate it through the media. The issues raised, together with the ANC’s response thereto, will be fully ventilated before the court. The ANC calls on all media institutions that have published or repeated this false claim to correct the record immediately and with appropriate prominence. Media freedom is indispensable to our democracy, but it cannot be separated from the responsibility to verify information and report accurately,” said Bhengu.

According to News24, factional battles and internal sabotage are to blame for the omission of some candidates’ names from the submitted IEC lists.