ANC members lose Electoral Court battle to overturn Eastern Cape candidate lists

The ANC has emerged victorious in a legal challenge brought by two of its Eastern Cape members who wanted the party’s candidate lists for the 2026 local government elections declared invalid.

Freedom Nkululeko Jojiyasi and Masande Mambulu took the party to the Electoral Court, alleging that its internal candidate-selection procedures had not been properly followed before the provincial lists and ward candidate nomination lists were submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

They argued that the party had submitted its lists to the IEC by the 28 August 2026 deadline without first resolving all outstanding disputes and appeals lodged by members through its internal structures.

According to Jojiyasi and Mambulu, the alleged failures had seriously prejudiced ANC members in the province and compromised the integrity of the entire nomination process.

The duo wanted the court to declare the lists unlawful and direct the party to undertake a fresh candidate-selection process.

Electoral Court dismisses ANC members’ bid to have Eastern Cape candidate lists scrapped

However, the court rejected their attempt to overturn the process.

In a judgment delivered on 2 November, the first day of special voting, Judge Leicester Adams rejected Jojiyasi and Mambulu’s request that the court invalidate the candidate lists, prevent the IEC from confirming the candidates’ registration and grant the ANC additional time to submit revised lists.

Adams dismissed the relief sought by the two members as “incompetent”.

The judge explained that the IEC could not be accused of acting unlawfully, irrationally or unreasonably for refusing to grant an extension, as the commission had no legal power to extend election deadlines or excuse political parties for failing to comply with the Electoral Act and the prescribed election timetable.

He further highlighted the importance of adhering to election deadlines.

“The electoral timetable is the central mechanism which regulates and thus gives effect to the rights to vote, stand for public office and to free and fair elections.

“Fairness cannot be assessed subjectively by considering only the circumstances of one non-compliant party or candidate,” the judgment reads.

Adams continued: “It is inherently unfair to parties and candidates that complied with a deadline to permit the alteration of that deadline, especially where the alteration is for purposes of suiting the convenience of a party that failed to comply with the deadline purely in consequence of subjective factors.

“It would come at a cost to political parties and independent candidates who have planned their campaigning based on the proclaimed date and who have not been cited in these proceedings.”

Mbalula provides evidence of internal dispute resolution

The court also considered the ANC’s response to the allegations that it had left disputes concerning its candidate lists and ward nominations unresolved.

Adams noted that the party had rejected these claims, with secretary-general Fikile Mbalula presenting several examples to demonstrate that complaints had been dealt with through the ANC’s internal processes.

One example related to Mambulu’s objection to the nomination process for Ward 8 in Matatiele, within the Alfred Nzo region.

Mbalula told the court that the provincial lists committee (PLC) had considered the complaint at a meeting in July 2026, where it identified “material irregularities” in the nomination process.

The committee then set aside the process and ordered it to be conducted again.

The decision was subsequently taken on appeal to the ANC’s electoral committee, which upheld the PLC’s ruling in mid-August.

“The difficulty faced by the applicants is that it cannot be said with any conviction that the version of the ANC is so far-fetched and untenable that it can be rejected on the papers out of hand,” Adams wrote.

The Electoral Court ultimately concluded that Jojiyasi and Mambulu failed to establish a sufficient basis to set aside the ANC’s candidate lists or the ward nomination outcomes.

The court therefore dismissed their application.