The Electoral Court has dismissed the African National Congress appeal seeking to compel the Electoral Commission of South Africa to reinstate 181 excluded councillor candidates for the 4 November local government elections. The ruling effectively strips the governing party of candidate slates across six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State, forfeiting ward battles and proportional representation seats to rival formations before a single vote is cast.
The order landed on Wednesday morning following an urgent late sitting on Tuesday evening. Judge Lebogang Modiba, presiding over the Bloemfontein-based court, dismissed the application with written reasons to follow, noting that the dispute raised administrative principles governing the statutory election timetable rather than an isolated party administrative failure. The Democratic Alliance formally intervened to oppose the application, arguing that statutory submission cutoffs must bind all registered parties equally.
The core dispute centered on the operation of the commission Online Candidate Nomination System ahead of the statutory deadline of 17:00 on 28 August. The ANC argued that candidate particulars, identity documents, and requisite election deposits for 130 proportional representation nominees and 51 ward candidates were captured within the electronic portal prior to the cutoff. However, party administrators failed to execute the mandatory final confirmation step. The commission refused to treat draft, unfinalised electronic data as lawful nominations, locking the platform precisely at the statutory deadline.
The political consequences fall unevenly across the six affected councils. In Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in the Free State, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal, and both Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape, ward candidates remain registered while proportional representation lists were locked out. The existential blow lands in Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill along the Wild Coast. In those two Eastern Cape councils, where the ANC captured outright majorities in 2021, both ward and PR nominations were rejected, leaving the party entirely absent from ballot papers.
The commission is scheduled to publish candidate lists for public inspection on Wednesday, moving the election timetable toward the formal ballot paper draw on 23 September. While the ANC leadership indicated it will evaluate appellate options once written reasons are delivered, the compressed statutory election calendar leaves minimal procedural room to alter printed ballots ahead of the 4 November poll, which has already been declared a national public holiday.
Under the Municipal Electoral Act, capturing candidate data on the commission electronic portal is merely an unsubmitted draft. A nomination becomes legally valid only when an authorized party representative completes verification and executes the final submission action before the statutory deadline. The court order affirms that data sitting in system storage without final confirmation does not constitute lawful compliance with the statutory timetable.
If you reside in Port St Johns, Ngquza Hill, Mangaung, uMshwathi, Walter Sisulu, or Sundays River Valley, inspect the certified candidate lists published by the commission today. In Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill, voters cannot cast a ballot for the ANC on either the ward or proportional representation ballots. Proportional representation votes allocate municipal council seats only to registered party lists, meaning unsubmitted lists automatically reallocate executive power to rival parties and independent contenders.
Will the ANC file an urgent appeal before the certified candidate lists lock permanently ahead of the 23 September ballot draw?
How will written reasons from Judge Modiba define the boundary between administrative electronic errors and statutory compliance under the Municipal Electoral Act?