ANC Loses Electoral Court Bid Over 181 Candidates Ahead Of Local Government Elections

The ANC has lost its Electoral Court challenge against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over 181 candidates excluded from the 4 November local government elections.

The court dismissed the party’s appeal on Wednesday after hearing arguments from the ANC, IEC and Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday. The dispute centred on whether candidate information entered into the IEC’s Online Candidate Nomination System before the 28 August deadline amounted to a formal submission.

The ruling leaves the 181 candidates excluded from the election process for now, while the ANC has confirmed that it intends to pursue an appeal.

ANC Electoral Court Challenge Over 181 Candidates Dismissed

The ANC Electoral Court challenge focused on candidate information that the party said had already been captured on the IEC’s electronic system before the 5pm deadline on 28 August. The ANC argued that the required candidate details and documentation had been entered and that failure to complete the system’s final submission step should not result in the candidates being excluded.

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The IEC disputed that position, maintaining that capturing, uploading or saving information on the system did not constitute a formal submission. The commission’s position was that the required final submission process had to be completed before the deadline.

The case involved 181 ANC candidates across six municipalities: Port St Johns, Ngquza Hill, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State.

The ANC has maintained that it was not asking the IEC to accept new candidates after the deadline. Instead, the party argued that the court needed to determine whether information already stored on the commission’s system before the deadline could legally be regarded as submitted.

The DA was granted leave to intervene in the matter. The court also rejected an attempt by the African Transformation Movement (ATM) to intervene, finding that its application had been brought “inordinately late” and without an application for condonation.

There was no order as to costs.

ANC Says It Will Appeal Electoral Court Judgment

The ANC says it will appeal the Electoral Court judgment, with national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu confirming that the party will pursue the next available legal step.

“Having considered the judgment, the ANC will exercise its legal rights and pursue the appropriate appeal process. Our legal representatives will engage the court on the legal questions arising from the judgment,” Bhengu said.

The party said it respected the court and the judicial process while maintaining that its challenge was not an attempt to obtain preferential treatment.

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“The ANC respects the courts and the judicial process. We have consistently maintained that this matter is not about seeking preferential treatment for the ANC, nor about asking the Electoral Commission to change the rules for the benefit of our organisation.”

The ANC said the central question remained the legal status of candidate information entered into the IEC’s electronic system before the prescribed deadline.

“It concerns the legal status of candidate information that the ANC maintains was captured into the IEC's electronic system before the prescribed deadline.”

The dispute comes as the IEC finalises preparations for the 4 November elections. The commission said on Wednesday that 136,790 candidates had been certified to contest the polls, while 5,096 candidates had been disqualified following its statutory review of nominations.

ANC Candidate Lists Affected In Six Municipalities

The ANC candidate-list dispute affects a limited number of municipalities, rather than the party’s entire slate for the local government elections. The party has previously said it successfully registered thousands of candidates across the country despite the dispute involving the 181 candidates.

The ANC has argued that the affected candidate information was already present on the IEC system before the deadline. The IEC, however, has maintained that the electronic process required parties to complete the final submission step for nominations to be formally lodged.

Following Wednesday’s judgment, Bhengu called on ANC members, leaders and supporters to remain disciplined while the party’s legal representatives consider the appeal process.

“We call on all ANC members, leaders, and supporters to remain calm and disciplined, and to refrain from public commentary that could prejudice or interfere with the ongoing legal process,” Bhengu said.

The ANC also reiterated that it intends to contest the November elections despite the court setback.

“The ANC remains fully committed to the 2026 Local Government Elections. Our focus remains on presenting our programme to South Africans, engaging communities, and earning their support through our record and our policies for the betterment of communities.”