ANC, IEC legal spat over nominations goes to Electoral Court

The African National Congress (ANC) says any relief granted by the Electoral Court over disputed candidate nominations should also apply to other political parties that allegedly experienced similar technical problems with the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) electronic submission system.

The party has taken its dispute with the IEC to the Electoral Court, insisting it is not fighting only for its own affected candidates.

Speaking during a briefing on Tuesday to clarify the party’s position, ANC Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, said the party filed an application for leave to appeal the IEC’s decision on 4 September.

“We ask that whatever the commission did, it did for every one of the affected 45 parties on identical terms,” Mbalula said.

The ANC is seeking to have 181 of its affected candidates recognised as having been submitted validly and on time. Mbalula says the candidates’ details were already captured on the IEC system before the 28 August deadline but did not complete the final electronic submission step.

Of the affected candidates, 130 were on proportional representation lists, while 51 were ward candidates.

The ANC says it submitted 9,128 candidates across the country for the 4 November local government elections, with 8,947 successfully registered. Mbalula says the party is therefore not seeking to introduce new candidates through the court process.

“There is not a single name the ANC wishes to enter anew,” he said.

He claims that during the final hour before the deadline, party operators were locked out of the IEC’s system and repeatedly redirected to its landing page.

“Confirmations stopped arriving,” Mbalula said, adding that the difficulties were reported to IEC officials as they happened.

The IEC rejected the ANC’s request to accept the outstanding nominations after the deadline.

🚨The IEC has noted the statement issued by the ANC on 31 August 2026

The IEC clarifies that it has not allowed, and does not intend to allow, any political candidates an additional capturing opportunity beyond the close of candidate nominations on Friday, 28 August 2026 at 5p.m pic.twitter.com/50wyC5Xmi6

— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) September 1, 2026

However, Mbalula argues that the fact that 45 other parties also encountered difficulties points to a broader problem with the electronic system.

He says the ANC is not questioning the IEC’s integrity and will accept the Electoral Court’s decision.

“The ANC will abide by the court judgment,” Mbalula said.

[WATCH] The question before the Court is short, and it is a question of law. When a political party has completed the Commission’s prescribed forms and uploaded its lists onto the Commission’s own system before the hour, has that party submitted its lists? The movement says it… pic.twitter.com/JEzcN3Q8uL

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) September 8, 2026