The ANC will appeal the Electoral Court judgment that bars it from contesting six municipalities in the November 4 local elections, insisting it is not seeking favours and that its candidates were captured before the deadline.
The party’s response came after a humiliating order on Wednesday morning in which the court dismissed the ANC’s bid to force the Electoral Commission to accept more than 180 late candidate submissions, while granting its Government of National Unity partner, the DA, leave to intervene against it.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party had noted the judgment and would exercise its legal rights.
“The African National Congress has noted the judgment of the Electoral Court concerning the dispute over the submission of the party’s candidate information in the affected municipalities. The ANC respects the courts and the judicial process,” Bengu said.
“We have consistently maintained that this matter is not about seeking preferential treatment for the ANC, nor about asking the Electoral Commission to change the rules for the benefit of our organisation. It concerns the legal status of candidate information that the ANC maintains was captured into the IEC’s electronic system before the prescribed deadline.”
The order, confirmed by registrar of the Electoral Court Lebogang Lengana in papers seen by Africa Daily, was devastatingly short.
“The DA is granted leave to intervene as a party in these. The ANC appeal is dismissed,” it reads.
The court also threw out an application by the African Transformation Movement to join the matter, declaring it “not properly before the Court, having been brought inordinately late, contrary to this Court’s directives issued on 9 September 2026, and the absence of any application for condonation for its late filing.” No order for costs was made.
Bhengu said the ANC would now escalate the fight.
“Having considered the judgment, the ANC will exercise its legal rights and pursue the appropriate appeal process. Our legal representatives will engage the court on the legal questions arising from the judgment,” she said.
“We call on all ANC members, leaders, and supporters to remain calm and disciplined and to refrain from public commentary that could prejudice or interfere with the ongoing legal process.”
The appeal sets up a last-ditch legal showdown with time running out.
Ballot papers for the November 4 polls must go to print within weeks, and any appeal to the Constitutional Court or Supreme Court of Appeal will have to be heard on an urgent basis.
Bhengu sought to frame the appeal as a defence of voters, not entitlement.
“The ANC remains fully committed to the 2026 Local Government Elections. Our focus remains on presenting our program to South Africans, engaging communities, and earning their support through our record and our policies for the betterment of communities,” she said.
At the heart of the dispute is the ANC’s admission that it missed the 28 August deadline for over 180 councillor candidates in six municipalities across KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the Eastern Cape.
The party claims a technical glitch on the IEC’s online system prevented the final upload. The IEC flatly denies it, saying the ANC simply failed to complete the final submission.