South Africa’s IEC pushes back on ANC claim of online glitch in ballot-list dispute
The African National Congress is fighting to get candidates back onto the ballot in six South African municipalities after missing the August 28 deadline. The
The African National Congress is fighting to get candidates back onto the ballot in six South African municipalities after missing the August 28 deadline. The Electoral Commission says the party cannot blame a system glitch.
In papers filed with the Electoral Court, the Independent Electoral Commission said its records show ANC officials were active on the online nomination platform right up to the 5 p.m. cutoff, undercutting the party’s claim that technical problems stopped it from completing submissions for the November 4 local government elections.
Commission says submission was never finished
The IEC told the court that capturing candidate information was not the same as submitting it. Its affidavit, filed by chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo, says parties had to click “Submit Wards/PR As Final” to finish the process. That step, the commission said, was explained repeatedly during training. Plain and simple.
The dispute has placed almost 200 ward and proportional representation candidates at risk of exclusion in some areas, including the Free State municipalities of Mangaung metro and Lejweleputswa District Municipality, and local councils in KwaZulu-Natal. The fallout now stretches across several strongholds. It matters.
Audit trail raises fresh doubts
The IEC’s audit trail has sharpened the dispute. For Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns, the commission said it found no record of activity in the final two hours before the deadline. That finding sits uneasily beside the ANC’s argument that technical problems blocked final submissions at the last moment.
The commission also said ANC officials were still using the nomination system right up to the deadline for the candidate-list filing. It has asked the Electoral Court to reject the party’s bid to have the missed lists treated as if they were filed on time.
ANC list problems widen
The deadline fight is not the ANC’s only headache. On Thursday, the party admitted that capture errors had also affected eThekwini and Ray Nkonyeni in KwaZulu-Natal, with some ward candidates entered under the wrong wards, duplicated, or swapped between wards.
The case has turned into a test of process, timing and responsibility. The IEC says the records are clear. The ANC says it ran into trouble with the system. For now, the court will have to weigh the audit trail against the party’s claim that a technical failure, not a missed deadline, kept its candidates off the list.
