Ngcukayitobi threatens to sue Mbalula over IEC list claims

ANC Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi has threatened to haul party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to court for defamation, escalating a bitter internal battle over the ANC’s candidate-list debacle.

Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers have demanded that Mbalula retract and apologise for claims in a report to ANC national leaders that allegedly pins blame for the Eastern Cape’s failure to submit key municipal candidate lists on the provincial secretary.

The report, according to the Sunday Times, says Ngcukayitobi submitted the province’s final list to the ANC operations centre just 29 minutes before the IEC deadline. It also raises suspicion that he altered an NEC-approved list without a mandate.

But Ngcukayitobi’s attorneys say the allegations are false and malicious and designed to shift responsibility away from Mbalula.