ANC EC secretary threatens legal action against Mbalula over election-list dispute

September 17, 2026 17

African National Congress (ANC) Eastern Cape provincial secretary, Lulama Ngcukayitobi, has threatened legal action against the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, over allegations linking him to the ANC’s botched local government election candidate-list submissions.

Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers, Mabusa Attorneys, on Thursday accused Mbalula of publishing “false and defamatory” statements that allegedly damaged their client’s reputation.

The dispute centres on a Sunday Times report attributed to Mbalula, which reportedly blamed Ngcukayitobi for the failure to submit several Eastern Cape candidate lists to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) before the 28 August deadline.

The legal letter claims Mbalula’s report suggested that Ngcukayitobi submitted the provincial list at around 4:30pm on deadline day and may have altered a list previously approved by the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Ngcukayitobi has denied the allegations and accused Mbalula of trying to shift the blame for the party’s election-list crisis.

His lawyers further allege that Mbalula personally instructed the alteration of a list, including the removal of ANC NEC member, Andile Lungisa’s, name from the Nelson Mandela Bay proportional-representation list.

Lungisa has since approached the High Court in Johannesburg, seeking an order declaring his removal unlawful and for his reinstatement.

Ngcukayitobi is demanding a “full and unconditional” retraction of Mbalula’s remarks and has given him until midday on Tuesday, 22 September, to respond.

Should he fail to do so, his lawyers say they will approach the High Court for relief. Mbalula has declined to comment, saying his lawyers will deal with the matter.

The dispute comes as the ANC continues its legal battle over 181 candidates who were not formally submitted to the IEC by the deadline. The party has indicated that it will appeal the Electoral Court’s decision dismissing its application to have the affected candidates included in the elections.

Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi has confirmed under oath that Fikile Mbalula gave the instruction to remove Andile Lungisa from the election list hence causing the deletion and resubmission which culminated in ANC failing to register many candidates in the… pic.twitter.com/o07kgn0Eol

— Satoshi Nakamoto (@BrownOxx) September 17, 2026