President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the ANC’s failure to submit some candidate lists for the 2026 local government elections by the 28 August deadline, attributing the problem to technical glitches in the IEC’s online nomination system. The ANC says affected lists span municipalities in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State, and the party is considering approaching the Electoral Court.
The IEC has rejected the ANC’s explanation, with Deputy CEO for Electoral Operations Masego Shiburi telling SABC News on 3 September 2026 that system logs showed no malfunction during the period the party alleges problems occurred. The nomination window opened on 21 June 2026 and closed at 17:00 on 28 August, after which the commission said no further additions would be accepted.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the difficulty emerged in the closing hours of the submission window and was reported to the commission as it arose. The ANC maintains that all nine provinces completed their allocated work but that the final electronic confirmation step failed before the deadline.
The IEC said approximately 2,274 to 2,300 candidates from 45 parties were captured but not finally submitted by the deadline, according to News24. The commission said it would not reopen nominations or permit late additions under any circumstances.
“The commission wishes to clarify that it has not allowed any party, nor does it intend to allow any party or independent candidate an additional capturing opportunity beyond the close of candidate nomination on Friday, 28 August 2026 at 17h00,” the IEC said in a statement reported by Eyewitness News.
Ramaphosa, speaking to Daily Maverick on 4 September 2026, acknowledged the glitches but said he was confident a solution would be found. He said the party was considering engagement with the IEC, the Political Party Liaison Committee, and the Electoral Court as possible avenues to resolve the dispute.
“There were some glitches, glitches with regards to just the interface with the IEC system,” Ramaphosa said. “So there should be a solution to be found because the technical glitches should not in the end deprive our people from being able to vote for their candidates and I’m certain that a solution will be found.”
The dispute carries significant political weight ahead of the 2026 local government elections, as missing candidate lists could bar the ANC from contesting specific wards in three provinces. For voters in affected areas, the outcome determines whether they can vote for the party of their choice on the ballot.
What remains unverified is whether the IEC system specifically caused the ANC’s missed submissions, as no independent technical source has confirmed a malfunction. The exact number of affected ANC candidates also varies between published reports and should be treated with caution.
Reporting by Daily Maverick, SABC News, News24, and Eyewitness News forms the basis of this article, as Cape Flats News was not on the scene. Cape Flats News will check for developments following the ANC’s expected engagement with the Political Party Liaison Committee and provide an update.
By Sipho Khumalo, Cape Flats News