Electoral Commission Rejects ANC Claims of System Glitch

The Electoral Commission of South Africa has rejected claims by the African National Congress (ANC) that a technical glitch in its candidate-capture system prevented the party from submitting councillor lists for the 2026 local government elections. The commission stated its online system remained available throughout the process and refused to grant any additional time for submissions beyond the August 28 deadline.

The dispute centers on the Eastern Cape, where the ANC reportedly failed to register candidate lists for municipalities including Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill, and Sunday’s River Valley. If these failures are confirmed, the ANC could be barred from contesting elections in some of these areas or have its proportional representation candidates omitted from the ballot.

Internal contradictions emerged within the ANC regarding the failure. Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula and Provincial Chair Oscar Mabuyane initially denied that any deadlines were missed, with Mbalula asserting the party met all requirements for all 257 municipalities. However, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu later stated that technical issues affected several parties and that a small number of entries were being finalized with the commission. This followed a leaked WhatsApp message allegedly from Mabuyane claiming that a system glitch and list manipulation had occurred during registration.