The ANC has suffered a dramatic courtroom setback that strips its candidates from the ballot in two Eastern Cape municipalities barely seven weeks before the crucial November local government elections.
The Electoral Court dismissed the party’s appeal over 181 disputed candidates, leaving it absent in Ngquza Hill and Port St Johns. The ANC has vowed to fight on through further legal remedies.
Court Dismisses ANC Appeal
The Electoral Court threw out the party’s challenge after it failed to submit candidate lists before the August 28 deadline.
The dispute involves 181 candidates in total, made up of 130 proportional representation candidates and 51 ward candidates.
The missed deadline has now become one of the costliest administrative blunders in the party’s recent electoral history.
It also raises uncomfortable questions about internal organisation at a time when the movement can least afford self inflicted wounds.
The party had pinned its hopes on the appeal as a last route back onto the ballot papers.
Two Municipalities Left Without ANC
The ruling means the ANC will not appear on the ballot at all in Ngquza Hill and Port St Johns, both in the Eastern Cape.
The absence is especially striking in a province long regarded as the heartland of the liberation movement.
Voters in those two municipalities will now choose from rival parties and independents without the country’s biggest political formation on offer.
Opposition groups are expected to pour resources into the vacuum left behind.
Local structures in the affected areas now face the prospect of campaigning without a formal presence on the ticket.
Four More Councils Feel The Fallout
The judgment also affects the party’s proportional representation candidates in Mangaung in the Free State and uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal.
Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape are caught by the same ruling.
In those four municipalities the ANC will still contest ward seats, but its affected PR candidates will not appear on the ballot.
That partial presence softens the blow but still leaves the party competing with one hand tied behind its back.
Campaign teams must now redirect energy toward the ward contests that remain open to them.
How The Candidate System Works
South Africa’s municipal elections use a mixed system in which ward councillors are elected directly and PR seats are allocated according to each party’s share of the vote.
Parties must submit both sets of candidate lists to the Electoral Commission by strict deadlines set out in the election timetable.
Missing the cut off generally means exclusion, with disputes landing before the Electoral Court.
The system is designed to reward both local accountability and overall voter support, which is why losing PR names carries real consequences.
Election officials say the timetable exists to allow ballot printing, verification and logistical planning to proceed smoothly.
Coalition Era Raises The Stakes
Since the 2021 local elections produced a wave of hung councils, every seat has taken on added significance in the battle for municipal power.
Fewer PR candidates weaken a party’s ability to convert its vote share into council seats, committee positions and influence over budgets.
In hung councils, even a handful of seats can decide who governs and who sits in opposition.
For a party that has dominated local politics since the dawn of democracy, even limited exclusions carry heavy symbolic weight.
Analysts say administrative discipline has become as important as campaign messaging in the modern municipal contest.
Legal Fight Far From Over
The ANC has said it will pursue further legal remedies against the ruling.
Any fresh challenge would unfold against a ticking clock, with the elections fixed for November 4.
Political parties are already in full campaign mode, making every lost week of preparation more damaging.
Rivals have already seized on the setback as evidence of organisational decay within the governing party.