ActionSA accuses DA of disenfranchising voters over PR list challenge

ActionSA has accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of trying to disenfranchise voters through its legal challenge over single-name proportional representation (PR) lists ahead of the Local Government Elections.

The DA has approached the Electoral Court against ActionSA, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) and GOOD, challenging their decision to submit only one candidate on some of their PR lists. The party argues that voters should know which candidates could represent them before casting their ballots on 4 November.  

The DA says the provision allowing parties to supplement their PR lists after an election was intended for situations where a party wins more seats than the number of candidates it initially submitted, rather than as a deliberate electoral strategy.

“The principle at stake is so fundamental that it cannot go unchallenged,” the party said in a statement issued on Tuesday. 

However, ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, has hit back, accusing the DA of hypocrisy and arguing that it has used the same provision in previous elections.

“We’re not talking about some loophole that ActionSA is manipulating maliciously. It’s been allowed and has been done in multiple elections by multiple political parties, including the Democratic Alliance,” stressed Beaumont.  

Beaumont says ActionSA intends to supplement its PR lists after the election based on the performance of its ward candidates.

He says the party submitted single-name PR lists in several municipalities because the law allows parties to supplement their lists if they win more seats than they initially have candidates for.

The DA, however, maintains the provision was intended for unexpected increases in support, rather than as a deliberate electoral strategy. 

The party argues the practice amounts to parties “hiding” candidates from voters and has asked the Electoral Court to determine whether it is lawful.

The dispute centres on provisions in the Municipal Structures Act, which regulate the supplementation of party lists after elections.

This legal battle is unfolding alongside a separate African National Congress (ANC) dispute over 181 candidates excluded from the ballot in six municipalities. The ANC argued that candidate information had been captured on the IEC’s system before the deadline, but that technical problems prevented the final submission.

However, the Electoral Court dismissed the ANC’s appeal last week, upholding the exclusion of the 181 candidates.

The IEC has maintained that the ANC understood the nomination rules but failed to complete the submission process before the 28 August deadline.

The ANC has since resolved to take the matter to the Constitutional Court, with the case expected to be heard on 7 October.

Speaking on the sidelines of the IEC Code of Conduct Signing and Ballot Paper Draw Ceremony in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, said the commission would abide by the Constitutional Court’s decision.​

@Action4SA will not parachute people onto our PR lists

Our Candidate Selection Policy is clear: our PR lists are populated by unelected ward candidates, ranked according to their performance in the candidate selection process.

That means South Africans have a direct say in… https://t.co/dOfnaGECsW pic.twitter.com/1bVYr9t1hK

— DR Mbahare J Kekana (@MbahareKekana_) September 23, 2026

Facetiousness aside, I’m not making a legal argument. What ActionSA, MK, EFF, Afrika Mayibuye, Move SA, Azanian Ground Forces and other parties are doing in JHB is legal. DA is arguing that it withholds information from the voters. We will see what the court says.

— Paul Berkowitz (@paulyberk) September 23, 2026

Poor ASA, it’s trying to win a legal matter on X. Whatever the outcome, the DA has identified an important grey area, that applies to all parties, and that merits clarity in the public interest, and that will require a legal argument, not tweets; rationality and not mad hysteria.

— Gareth van Onselen (@GvanOnselen) September 23, 2026