Electoral Court Dismisses ANC Challenge on Excluded Candidates

The Electoral Court has dismissed the ANC's challenge against the Electoral Commission over 181 candidates excluded from the 4 November local government elections, but the party says it will appeal the ruling. The dispute centred on whether candidate information the ANC had loaded onto the IEC's online nomination system before the 28 August deadline counted as formally submitted, even though the party had not completed the system's final submission step. The IEC maintained that capturing or uploading information isn't the same as formally submitting it, and that the ANC simply didn't complete the process in time. Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines The court dismissed the ANC's appeal and granted the DA leave to intervene in the matter. A separate bid by the African Transformation Movement to intervene was rejected, with the court finding it had been brought too late and without the right application. No costs order was made against either side. The 181 affected candidates span 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. ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said in a statement on Wednesday that the party will pursue further legal options. "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," she said. The party maintained it was not seeking special treatment, saying the case was about the legal status of information it says was already captured on the IEC's system before the deadline. Bhengu called on ANC members to stay calm while the party's lawyers consider next steps, and said the party remains committed to contesting the elections regardless of the outcome. "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," she said. Read the original article on Scrolla . AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica . To address comments or complaints, please Contact us . AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 90 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy . We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.