The ANC approached the Court following a dispute with the IEC over the party’s failure to click the final submission button before the deadline.
The ruling allows ANC candidates to contest the November 4 local government elections in affected municipalities across the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula welcomed the judgment outside Constitution Hill, saying the party had chosen to resolve the dispute through legal channels. “The Constitution has spoken, and it has spoken for the people of this country,” Mbalula said.
“We do not wish to win an election by any road other than the ballot. That is the character of this movement, and today it has been vindicated.”
Political Analyst Sandile Swana said the decision could allow the ANC to retain municipalities where previous support remained strong. “In the most direct sense, it means that there are a number of municipalities, probably about six, that the ANC will win because these are traditional strongholds,” Swana said.
“The ANC would have lost by being absent.”
Swana expected the ANC to perform strongly in parts of the Eastern Cape but cautioned that contests would remain closely fought.
In Mangaung, Swana said the ANC could record a respectable result but might require a coalition to govern.
The IEC and Democratic Alliance had argued that electoral rules and submission deadlines should apply equally to every political party.
Swana said the judgment could influence how incomplete candidate submissions are handled during future elections. “Rights must be equal,” Swana said.
Swana argued that other parties in the same position should receive equivalent treatment if candidate information had been uploaded before the deadline but the final submission button had not been pressed.
The IEC could also consider modifying the online nomination platform so that information already captured on the system was automatically submitted when the deadline arrived. “The system itself must have an automatic final submission at 17:00, so anything in the system at that time is automatically submitted,” Swana said.
–ChannelAfrica–
