The African National Congress (ANC) faces a race against time to select its mayoral candidates for the November 4, 2026, local government elections following significant delays in its internal vetting and interview processes. Party leadership has received over 5,000 applications for metropolitan mayoral positions, forcing a centralised review by the organisation’s “top seven” to manage the high volume of candidates.
This bottleneck follows an urgent directive issued by ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula on August 6, 2026, which mandated provincial and regional structures to resolve persistent branch disputes and vetting challenges. The intervention required NEC deployees to submit detailed status reports by August 15, as the party struggles to balance internal factional interests with the public demand for clean, ethical governance.
The ANC leadership’s plan to install its mayoral candidates as mayors in key and highly contested municipalities ahead of the local government elections has been scuppered by the party’s protracted interview process, which took longer than expected.
The centralisation of this process marks a strategic shift intended to prevent the selection of candidates embroiled in local scandals or branch-level infighting. By taking decision-making power away from fractured local structures, the national leadership aims to present a more unified front to voters who have increasingly moved away from the party in previous cycles.
The extended timeline has created a backlog, leaving the party in a state of catch-up as the final date for community appeals and Branch General Meeting disputes passed on August 8. The outcome of this vetting process is critical for the ANC’s prospects, as the party attempts to reclaim lost ground in major metros where its support base remains under pressure.
It is currently unclear how many applicants have been disqualified during the vetting process or how soon the final list of mayoral candidates will be unveiled. We will provide updates on the status of these candidate lists as more information is confirmed by the party’s national office.