Mbalula, ANC given 10 days to open its books on Eastern Cape branches

The African National Congress (ANC) has been ordered by the KuGompo High Court to provide electronic membership data and branch attendance records from the Eastern Cape within 10 court days. The directive was issued following a challenge to the integrity of branch meetings held prior to an interdicted provincial elective conference.

Disgruntled ANC members, led by Lwazi Rotya, sought the party's "raw data," which encompasses electronic membership-system results and branch attendance registers for 2025 and 2026. The records must be submitted electronically through a secure method to be determined by the registrar. The information will not be part of the open court file and will remain confidential, accessible solely to the court and the applicants' legal representatives.

Additionally, the ANC is required to pay the applicants' legal costs on a punitive Scale B basis. The demand for the records emerged from concerns about manipulation, identity-document harvesting, and fraudulent activities at the branch meetings. The applicants' legal representative, Sinawo Mkhangela, welcomed the ruling, stating that the disclosure of the attendance registers would bring them closer to finalizing their pending application.