JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has confirmed that the majority of the party’s candidates have been successfully logged into the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) system for the upcoming 4 November election, despite an ongoing ANC IEC candidate dispute that is now headed to the Electoral Court.
Mbalula outlined the steps the party is taking to ensure that more than 200 candidates who could not be submitted in time are also enlisted, following claims that the electoral commission’s system glitched and locked out parties attempting to load their submissions before the 28 August deadline.
According to the ANC, the party successfully lodged 9,128 candidates for this election across all nine provinces. Of those, 4,366 are registered with the Electoral Commission on the ward ballot and 4,581 on the proportional ballot, totaling 8,947 candidates. Mbalula noted that this represents 97% of every ward seat in the republic and 90% of every proportional seat.
However, 181 ANC candidates were received by the commission system on 28 August but did not complete the final electronic submission step. These affected candidates are spread across six councils out of the 257 in the country: Emalahleni, Port St Johns, Walter Sisulu, and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape; uMhlathuze in KwaZulu-Natal; and Mangaung in the Free State.
The ANC has taken this dispute to the Electoral Court, arguing that under the Electronic Communications Act, the moment candidate information was uploaded to the IEC system, it fell within the commission’s control and purview. The party contends that the IEC cannot create more onerous steps for electronic submissions than it would for physical submissions, and that the failure to press the final “submit” button should not invalidate the data already provided.
Nkululeko Tselane, Legal Director at the Institute of Election Management Services in Africa (IEMSA), provided legal context to the development. Tselane explained that the Constitutional Court has previously ruled in past election matters that a political party failing to submit its online documentation on time cannot ask the court for relief to condone the late failure, and that the IEC does not have the power to condone such late submissions.
Tselane also highlighted that while the IEC noted approximately 44 political parties had incomplete or unique submissions, the ANC is the primary party actively litigating the matter. Although the ANC argues that over 2,000 other candidates from various organizations faced similar systemic hurdles, Tselane cautioned that without formal objections or court filings from those groups, the broader impact remains speculative. The Electoral Court would likely be hesitant to make a ruling that applies exclusively to the ANC, though the party is fully within its rights to litigate its own nomination lists.
Addressing the delays, Mbalula defended the party’s internal processes, describing the ANC’s nomination procedure as a “deep and complex democratic process of consent” unmatched by other parties. He emphasized that the time taken was partly due to rigorous vetting criteria to ensure candidates have no criminal records, no adverse findings of fraud or unethical conduct, and strict adherence to the party’s step-aside rule.
Despite the legal challenge, Mbalula was careful to affirm the ANC’s respect for the electoral body. He reminded the public that the ANC argued for, negotiated, and helped build the IEC as a Chapter 9 institution of the Constitution. He emphasized that the movement has historically accepted every substantive result the commission has declared, including the 2024 election outcome that ended the party’s 30-year majority, noting pointedly that the ANC did not resort to calling the commission a “thief” when faced with defeat.
The Electoral Court is now expected to rule on whether the IEC’s strict adherence to the deadline can be legally circumvented given the alleged system glitches and the substantial completion of the ANC’s broader candidate submission.
