South African Electoral Court dismisses ANC appeal over 181 candidates
South Africa’s Electoral Court has dismissed the African National Congress (ANC) appeal over the exclusion of 181 party candidates from local elections in six municipalities. The party said it would use available legal procedures to further challenge the decision, Daily Maverick reports.
The municipalities concerned are Port St Johns, Nqgqza Hill, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape province, as well as uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State.
Incomplete electronic submission
The ANC claimed that by the August 28 deadline, it had completed candidate forms, uploaded supporting documents and paid the required deposits. However, party representatives did not complete the final step in the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s electronic system — they did not click the final submission button.
According to the ANC, on the day submissions closed, party administrators were kicked out of the system at 16:34 and returned to the start page. The party said it notified a commission representative of the problem at 16:35, and its staff were again logged out of the system at 16:57. The Electoral Commission therefore regarded the nominations as not having been formally submitted.
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ANC lawyers insisted that the candidate data and accompanying documents had entered the system before the deadline. The party also argued that the law and regulations do not define clicking the final submission button as a separate legal requirement.
Electoral Commission’s position
The Electoral Commission rejected the ANC’s arguments and said the party should adhere to its initial explanation concerning technical failures. Commission representative Terry Motau noted that the ANC could have submitted candidate lists in paper form, which would have eliminated the dispute over the electronic process.
The commission also said that the issue of interpreting the legislation appeared for the first time only in the ANC’s court application. According to its position, there were no technical failures that would have prevented completion of the procedure, and the party successfully used the electronic system for most of its nominations.
ANC national spokesperson Malengi Bhengu said the party respects the court process and is not seeking special treatment or a change in the rules in its favor. According to her, the dispute concerns the legal status of candidate data which, the ANC claims, had been entered into the commission’s electronic system before the deadline.
