By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Constitutional Court has set the 5th of October to hear the African National Congress (ANC) appeal seeking to overturn the Electoral Court order.
The party has challenged the IEC over 181 candidates excluded from the November 4 Local Government Elections.
The ANC populated candidate details into the IEC’s online system (OCNS) ahead of the August 28 deadline, but failed to complete the final “submit” click before the cutoff.
The Electoral Court ruled against the ANC, stating that data left unsubmitted on the OCNS does not amount to legal compliance under the Municipal Electoral Act.
In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, the court rejected ANC’s argument that its candidates should be accepted because the party had substantially completed the nomination process before the deadline.
In its application to apex court, the ANC has repeated a similar argument, saying its administrators had submitted all the necessary details on the IEC’s online portal.
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya issued a directive requiring that the respondents may file answering affidavits on or before 28 September 2026.
The dispute affects 181 ANC candidates in the six municipalities : Port St Johns, Ngquza Hill, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State.