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- The Electoral Court has turned down the ANC’s appeal over 181 rejected candidate nominations in six municipalities.
- The ANC has said it will appeal further, arguing that the dispute is about candidate information that was captured before the deadline.
- The DA welcomed the ruling, saying all political parties should be held to the same electoral rules.
The African National Congress has promised to appeal again after the Electoral Court dismissed its challenge over the Independent Electoral Commission’s rejection of 181 candidate nominations ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
In a judgment delivered in Bloemfontein, Judge N Modiba, Acting Judge T Mangcu-Lockwood and Professor MR Phooko gave the Democratic Alliance permission to intervene, dismissed the ANC’s appeal, rejected the African Transformation Movement’s late application to intervene and made no order on costs.
The ruling effectively confirms that the IEC’s candidate submission process is over and opens the door for the final candidate lists to be published.
ANC says legal fight will continue
Moments after the court delivered its judgment, the ANC said it respected the courts and the judicial process but rejected claims that it was looking for special treatment.
National spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the dispute was about the legal status of candidate information, which the ANC insists was captured on the IEC’s electronic system before the deadline.
“Having considered the judgment, the ANC will exercise its legal rights and go through the appropriate appeal process,” the party said.
The ANC added that its lawyers would take up the legal questions raised by the judgment and called on members and supporters to remain calm and disciplined as the legal process continues.
“We call on all ANC members, leaders and supporters to stay calm and disciplined, and to avoid public comments that could interfere with the ongoing legal process,” the statement said.
The party also restated its commitment to contesting the 2026 local government elections, saying its focus is on presenting its programme to South Africans and winning support through its record and policies.
How the dispute began
The legal dispute began after the IEC rejected 181 ANC nominations because the party had not completed the final submission step on its electronic nomination system before the statutory deadline of 5pm on 28 August.
The rejected nominations include 130 proportional representation candidates and 51 ward candidates across six municipalities. These are Ngquza Hill, Port St Johns, Walter Sisulu, Sundays River Valley, uMshwathi and Mangaung.
The ANC argued that all candidate information had already been entered into the IEC’s system before the deadline. The party said it was not trying to introduce new candidates, but wanted the existing data to be recognised as validly submitted.
Before the hearing, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula had said, “There is not a single name the ANC wishes to enter into the Commission’s system anew. All the names are inside the system as we speak.”
He maintained that the main legal question was whether those electronically captured names could be considered lawful submissions.
DA says deadlines are deadlines
The Democratic Alliance, which was granted permission to intervene in the matter, welcomed the judgment as a win for electoral fairness.
DA Federal Council chairperson Ashor Sarupen said, “Today’s judgment from the Electoral Court prevents the ANC from submitting candidates for the upcoming election after all other parties were held to the same deadline… It is good for the rule of law, the fairness of elections and equality among parties that the rules were not bent for the ANC.”
The Electoral Court also ruled that the ATM’s application to intervene was not properly before it, as it was brought too late and without an application for condonation.
Final candidate lists now stand
Although the ANC has said it will appeal again, the Electoral Court’s decision means the IEC’s rejection of the 181 nominations still stands. The ANC has previously said it successfully registered 9,128 candidates nationwide, and that the rejected nominations affect just six of South Africa’s 257 municipalities.
The IEC is expected to publish the final candidate lists soon, confirming the parties and candidates who will appear on the ballot papers in the November local government elections.
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