Simon Nare
The Electoral Court has dismissed the ANC’s appeal seeking to have 181 candidate nominations across six municipalities recognised as validly submitted despite the party failing to complete the IEC’s final electronic submission step before the deadline.
In an order handed down on Wednesday, the court also granted the DA leave to intervene in the case.
“The African National Congress’s appeal is dismissed,” the court ordered.
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It also ruled that an application by the African Transformation Movement (ATM) to intervene was not properly before the court because it had been filed late.
“It is declared that the African Transformation Movement’s application for leave to intervene was not properly before the court, having been brought inordinately late, contrary to this court’s directives issued on 9 September 2026, and in the absence of any application for condonation for its late filing,” the order said.
The ATM had sought to oppose the ANC’s case, arguing that the party had failed to meet the candidate nomination deadline and should not receive different treatment from other parties.
The dispute involved 181 ANC candidate nominations across six municipalities: Sundays River Valley, Walter Sisulu, Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State.
The candidates’ information had been captured on the IEC’s Online Candidate Nomination System before the 17:00 deadline on 28 August, but the ANC did not complete the system’s “submit as final” step.
The ANC argued that it had completed the prescribed electronic forms and uploaded the required supporting documents before the deadline and that this amounted to valid submission under electoral law.
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The IEC disputed this, saying that capturing and saving information on the system was preparatory and did not amount to submitting nominations.
It said that the nominations had not been completed by the deadline and that the candidates were consequently excluded by operation of law rather than through a discretionary decision by the commission.
The ANC had initially blamed a technical glitch with the IEC’s online system for its failure to complete the process. But during arguments on Tuesday, its lawyers focused on whether pressing the final submission button was legally required for a nomination to be valid.
ANC legal representative Advocate Daniel Berger argued that the IEC had incorrectly interpreted the Municipal Electoral Act and regulations by treating the failure to complete the final electronic submission step as fatal to the nominations.
The IEC maintained that the system was functioning and that political parties had been required to complete the entire submission process before the deadline.
Following Wednesday’s ruling, the ANC said it had noted the judgment and would pursue the legal avenues available to it.
“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,” it said.
“It concerns the legal status of candidate information that the ANC maintains was captured into the IEC’s electronic system before the prescribed deadline. Having considered the judgment, the ANC will exercise its legal rights and pursue the appropriate appeal process.”
The party called on “ANC members, leaders and supporters to remain calm and disciplined and refrain from public commentary that could prejudice or interfere with the legal process”.
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It said it remained committed to contesting the 4 November 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,” it said.
