ANC to provide update on IEC court challenge amid candidate list glitch
The ANC announced last week that it was unable to capture all its candidates on the IEC's system due to what it described as a technical glitch.
The ANC is set to hold a media briefing on Tuesday, 8 September, at 11am to update journalists on its challenge against the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) candidate nomination deadline. The party is seeking to overturn the exclusion of members who missed the 28 August cut-off for the 2026 Local Government Elections. The announcement of the briefing comes amid controversy surrounding the submission of candidate lists due to a technical glitch affecting the IEC's online system.
The ANC claims that the technical issue prevented them from uploading all the necessary documents on time, despite insisting that their officials had done so. The dispute has affected ANC councillor candidates in six municipalities across KwaZulu‑Natal (KZN), Mpumalanga, and the Eastern Cape, potentially jeopardizing the party's representation in these regions.
The Electoral Court will hear the ANC's submission, which argues that the system failure was beyond their members' control and that excluding them would unfairly disenfranchise communities in the affected areas. Fikile Mbalula, the party's secretary-general, is facing increased pressure from senior party leaders, who are demanding answers regarding the omissions that could impact the ANC's prospects in key municipalities ahead of the upcoming local government elections on 4 November.
Written by urgent.news from The Citizen's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
