Cape Town - Suspended ANC MPL Andile Lili is in a battle for his political life as he insists his party was wrong to say he was on “step aside” and therefore cannot speak for, or represent, the party until his legal issues are resolved.
Last May, Lili was found guilty of inciting members of the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement to commit murder in comments he made outside the Bellville Regional Court on July 28, 2015.
In February this year, Lili was suspended from the party after being referred to the provincial legislature’s conduct committee relating to the criminal charges he faces.
This came after he appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on charges of assaulting the principal of Inkanini Primary School.
Lili, who until his suspension was the party’s human settlements spokesperson in the provincial legislature, said he had written to the ANC challenging the step-aside decision.
He said: “I have been charged, tried, found guilty and subjected to the step-aside sentence without ever being afforded an opportunity to hear how I violated ANC policies or any law, and without an opportunity to defend myself.”
ANC Western Cape spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said Lili had been placed on step-aside in line with the guidelines of the ANC.
“All the things he said are immaterial as he is yet to appear before the Integrity Commission and the Disciplinary Committee.
“The step-aside policy states that whoever is charged for serious crimes and appears before a court of law should voluntarily step aside and attend to his cases, in the case where he/she refuses to step aside, the organisation invokes a temporary suspension.”
Mtsweni said Lili was not allowed to represent the ANC on any platform, including the legislature.
Meanwhile, Lili’s colleague Danville Smith who was charged last August with corruption, fraud, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act, confirmed he remained on step-aside since 2021.
At the same time GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron said an announcement about the replacement in the legislature for Shaun August, whose membership of the party was terminated earlier this month, was imminent.
On Friday August made a last ditch appeal at the high court seeking reinstatement, but the matter was struck off the roll.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za