One hundred and eighty-one candidates. That is the number the African National Congress failed to register before the 28 August 2026 deadline for the 4 November local government elections, a lapse that now threatens to exclude the party from ballots in two municipalities entirely and strip it of representation in four others.
The operational failure is specific and traceable. Across six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Mangaung metro, 130 proportional representation candidates and 51 ward candidates were left off final registered lists. Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape lost both ward and PR candidates entirely. In Mangaung, uMshwathi, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley, only PR candidates failed to register while ward candidates remained on the ballot. The omission of 51 mayoral candidates across these jurisdictions has created a cascade of operational gaps heading into polling day.
The Independent Electoral Commission opened its online candidate nomination system on 21 June 2026, giving parties a four-month window before the deadline. IEC deputy CEO for electoral operations Masego Shiburi stated at a press conference that the system performed reliably throughout the period the ANC claims it malfunctioned. “We have looked at our logs, at our records. On our part, the system performed well in the time that the party alleges the system was not working,” Shiburi said. The IEC had sent automated reminders to all political parties and made guidelines available emphasising the importance of meeting the deadline. Around 2,300 candidates from 45 political parties were disqualified for missing the same deadline, not the ANC alone.
IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo went further, directly contradicting ANC claims that administrators were logged out of the Online Candidate Nomination System at 16h58 on the final day. “I deny that at 16h58, the ANC’s administration was logged out of the OCNS and returned to the landing page. This is not borne out by the objective evidence. Even if they were, they could log back in,” Mamabolo said.
The party has appealed to the Electoral Court, claiming in its court papers that administrators had completed required forms and uploaded supporting documents for the six affected municipalities before encountering technical difficulties that prevented them from pressing the final submit button. The IEC’s affidavit counters that it had issued regular automated reminders pointing to guidelines emphasising the deadline’s importance.
What changed the character of this failure from administrative mishap to institutional crisis is the internal explanation the ANC itself has offered. Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, the chief administrative officer responsible for party operations, has rejected responsibility despite his role as the party’s CEO. He and other ANC leaders have alleged deliberate sabotage by rival factions who preferred different candidates for mayoral and councillor positions. That accusation, made publicly, signals the depth of factional division consuming the organisation from within.
The ANC had also deliberately withheld the names of mayoral candidates from public disclosure before the IEC deadline, fearing that disgruntled factions would submit competing names as independent candidates or that angry members would offer themselves to rival parties. That secrecy strategy backfired operationally, compounding the registration failure.
The broader context is the party’s 2027 presidential succession contest. Slates are forming around Deputy President Paul Mashatile, Mbalula, and nascent groupings supporting businessman Patrice Motsepe and National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza. Control of municipal-level candidacies translates directly into control of state resources and patronage networks that factions mobilise during party leadership elections. The slate that secures the most candidates nominated and elected at the municipal level builds a powerbase for its presidential candidate. President Cyril Ramaphosa, currently fighting impeachment, operates with diminished authority to enforce discipline while these contests play out.
Meanwhile, opposition parties stand to benefit substantially from the gaps the ANC has left on the ballot. In KwaZulu-Natal, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party gains where the ANC fields no candidates. In the Eastern Cape, the Economic Freedom Fighters benefit in urban areas. In Johannesburg, the Democratic Alliance’s Helen Zille gains advantage as the ANC failed to submit mayoral candidate Frank Chikane.
The ANC dropped below 50 percent for the first time since 1994 in the 2021 local elections, reaching 45.59 percent. Analysts now suggest the party risks falling to the 30 percent floor in November unless the Electoral Court intervenes in its favour.
The IEC has established itself as one of South Africa’s most credible democratic institutions. Allowing the ANC to register omitted candidates after the deadline would test that reputation directly. As the party’s political leverage diminishes following its loss of national majority in 2024, the court’s ruling will signal whether democratic institutions can hold their operational standards under pressure.