IEC Tells Electoral Court No System Glitch Caused ANC's Candidate List Failure

• South Africa's Electoral Commission filed an affidavit opposing the ANC's bid to place late candidates on ballots in six municipalities
• IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said server logs recorded no downtime before the 5pm nomination deadline
• The Democratic Alliance has applied to join the court proceedings to oppose any deadline relaxation for the ANC

SOUTH AFRICA — The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has pushed back against the ANC's application to place candidates on the ballot in six municipalities, telling the Electoral Court the party's failure to submit on time was entirely self-inflicted. The IEC spoke after the ANC took it to the Electoral Court for alleged technical glitches that blocked the submission of over 170 party candidates.

According to IOL, the commission filed an answering affidavit in response to the ANC's court bid, which seeks to have late nominees included ahead of the upcoming 2026 Local Government Elections in November. Sy Mamabolo, the IEC's Chief Electoral Officer, anchored the commission's defence on its own server records.

IEC defends nomination platform

According to court papers, those logs showed zero downtime on the automated nomination platform before the 5pm cut-off. Mamabolo pointed out that ANC officials were actively uploading candidate lists for other municipalities right up to the deadline, which he said demonstrated the system was fully operational throughout.

He argued that the objective evidence confirmed the party simply missed the deadline because they had run out of time, having left their final submissions until the last moment. Because ANC officials did not press "submit as final" before the cut-off, Mamabolo stated that no candidates were officially nominated by operation of law, and therefore there was no administrative decision against which an appeal could be lodged.

Party warned well in advance

The IEC also outlined the steps taken to support parties ahead of the deadline. Mamabolo noted that the ANC received multiple warnings, training sessions, and an automated email specifically listing wards where submissions remained outstanding.

The commission further highlighted that thousands of candidates from other political parties completed their nominations without any reported technical interference, reinforcing its position that the failure was not systemic.

Democratic Alliance files papers to block ANC

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the Democratic Alliance has since applied to join the court proceedings, seeking to oppose any move to relax the deadline in the ANC's favour. The IEC maintains that the legal cut-off is binding and that the responsibility for missing it rests solely with the party.

Source: Briefly News