'I will stand for any position': Andile Lili wants to lead ANC in Western Cape

Firebrand Andile Lili, who dumped faeces at some of Cape Town’s prominent landmarks while protesting against poor service delivery, wants to lead the ANC in the Western Cape.  

Lili told TimesLIVE on Wednesday he was ready to serve in any position ANC branches nominated him for.

“I will stand for any position, we are in a crisis here. Any position, if I am nominated, I will accept,” he said.

A poster bearing his face and inscribed with the words “comrade Andile Lili for ANC Western Cape provincial chairperson” has been doing the rounds on social media. 

While he says the poster was designed and produced by people who want him to stand, he had not authorised its production. “But I will accept nomination for any leadership position in the ANC. We need a vibrant ANC. We have a challenge in this province, evidenced by the fact that we lose so badly to the DA.”

The ANC garnered 28% in the Western Cape during elections held in 2019. Lili said the provincial ANC needed a leader who lived among poor people as the ones it had were out of touch.

“I believe it’s time that someone who lives in the shacks, who lives with the poor, leads the ANC. The ones who live in affluent areas such as Gordon’s Bay have failed leading the ANC. It’s time those of us who live among the poor get a chance to lead.”

Lili, who is a member of the Western Cape provincial legislature, lives in ward 95 in Khayelitsha where he lived during his time as an ANC councillor. Ward 95 is also home to one of the ANC’s biggest branches in the province.

He said his understanding was that the poster calling for his election as provincial chairperson was designed by people who live in the informal settlements of Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.

“And if they say they want me, who am I to decline? These people belong to ANC branches and I believe they will raise my name in those branches. There’s not a single candidate that can go toe-to-toe with me here. I keep hearing their names, but none of them can successfully go against me.”

If elected, he would revive the ANC, “street by street”.

“We would have a vibrant ANC and not leave it to people with money.”

Lili was elected to the ANC’s provincial executive committee in 2015 and appointed to the interim provincial committee which has been running the party's affairs in the province since August 2019.

“I don’t have the powers to drive the ANC programme as an ordinary member of the PEC or IPC. I can’t give directives on what should be done,” he said.

The ANC is expected to hold its provincial conference by mid-2022.

TimesLIVE