A prominent member of South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) has been sentenced to three years in prison for smashing a water jug on the head of an opposition politician during a brawl in October 2016.

Andile Lungisa – the former chairman of the party in Nelson Mandela Bay – had behaved like a common street thug when he assaulted the Democratic Alliance’s Rano Kayser during a heated council meeting, a magistrate’s court ruled, South Africa’s News 24 site reports.

Lungisa will spend his first night in prison after the court refused to give him permission to appeal against his sentence, it adds.

One year of his sentence was suspended, meaning that he will spend two years in jail.