ANC Loses Court Bid to Contest 6 Municipalities in November Elections

• The ANC took the IEC to court after failing to submit candidate lists on time ahead of the November 2026 local government elections
• The ANC argued that 181 candidates whose details were already captured on the IEC system should still be allowed to contest
• The court challenged the ANC's explanation after evidence emerged that the IEC's system was functioning during the submission period

SOUTH AFRICA — The African National Congress has failed in its legal bid to have 181 candidates reinstated to municipal election lists after the Electoral Court dismissed its appeal against the Electoral Commission of South Africa on Wednesday, 16 September 2026.

The dispute arose from the ANC's failure to submit candidate lists by the deadline in six municipalities ahead of the 4 November 2026 local government elections.

ANC's case centred on system capture, not new additions

The party contended that its 181 candidates should not have been excluded because their details were already captured on the IEC's online system before the deadline elapsed. The ANC was careful to frame its argument as one of retention rather than addition, insisting it was not seeking to introduce new names but to preserve those already on the system.

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Central to its position was the claim that electoral legislation and regulations do not explicitly compel parties to click a "submit as final" button to complete the submission process. Advocate Daniel Berger, representing the ANC, maintained that data saved on the IEC's platform carried legal weight.

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Court finds ANC's explanation lacking

The party's argument ran into difficulty during proceedings when Professor Moses Phooko pressed Berger on why the ANC had used the "submit as final" function in other municipalities if it considered that step legally unnecessary.

Berger acknowledged that the party had in fact attempted to submit the disputed lists, but said the button had not functioned correctly.

"We tried to press the button; it didn't work. It didn't work because maybe the problem was on our side; we don't know," he told the court.

Judge Lebogang Modiba found that explanation difficult to accept. The court had been presented with evidence indicating that the IEC's system was operating without fault at the relevant time.

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With its appeal dismissed, the ANC will be unable to field the 181 disputed candidates in the six affected municipalities when voters go to the polls on 4 November 2026.

This is a developing story.

DA files papers against ANC's IEC challenge

Previously, Briefy News reported that the Democratic Alliance moved to challenge the African National Congress's attempt to field candidates in six municipalities where the governing party failed to meet the Independent Electoral Commission's nomination deadline. The DA filed papers before the Electoral Court on 9 September 2026, seeking leave to intervene in the ANC's application.

Source: Briefly News