The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein will on Monday morning consider Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor Andile Lungisa’s appeal against his effective two-year sentence for assault.

He was found guilty of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm after he intentionally smashed a full glass water jug over an opposition councillor’s head during a council brawl in October 2016.

The SCA had only granted him leave to appeal against his sentence. His conviction stands.

While Lungisa’s lawyers have argued that the sentence was shockingly harsh, particularly for a first-time offender, and that he was being sacrificed on the altar of deterrence, the prosecution believes the sentence to be appropriate.

It is not clear when a decision will be made.

DA councillor Rano Kayser sustained serious facial injuries as a result of the heated incident, which was filmed by another opposition councillor.

Lungisa’s previous appeals to the Port Elizabeth magistrate’s court, and later the high court in Makhanda, had also failed, though Judge Judith Roberson said she might have imposed a lesser sentence had she presided over the trial.

Counsel for Lungisa have called for correctional supervision instead.

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