By OBAKENG MAJE

3 September 2026 – The African National Congress (ANC) said it is contesting the 2026 Local Government Elections (LGEs) across the length and breadth of the country. The former liberation party said its candidates were nominated by their branches and communities, vetted and lodged with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and they intend to be on the ballot in every ward and every municipality.

The ANC national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu said the movement did not miss the Commission’s deadline. Bhengu said all nine provinces completed the work allocated to them.

“Every provincial secretary, working with the provincial list committees and under the direction of the ANC Electoral Committee, uploaded the candidates nominated by our branches and regions onto the Commission’s Online Candidate Nomination System. That upload was 100% complete before 5pm on 28 August 2026.

“This was a collective undertaking of the whole movement, from the branch to the National Executive Committee (NEC) and it was carried out. What did not close was the system’s final electronic confirmation step on a portion of those lists,” she said.

Bhengu further said the difficulty emerged in the closing hours of the window and was reported to the Commission as it arose. The records of the affected candidates were already captured and held on the OCNS before 5pm. She added that they are addressing these system failures with the commission through the proper channels.

“This was not confined to one party or one municipality. The commission has itself reported that 2 274 candidates, across 45 political parties, were captured on its system, but not recorded as finally submitted.

“That is the measure of the matter. The ANC is not asking the commission to condone a late nomination. We seek to add no name that was not on the OCNS by 17h00, and no amendment or reordering of any list. We ask only that the commission recognise and process what its own system received and stored before the deadline, rather than treat it as never having been submitted because of technical failures prevented the final confirmation,” said Bhengu.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the ANC Electoral Committee, Kgalema Motlanthe, has declared the candidate nomination and submission process a resounding success and has expressed his confidence that a solution will be found — one that expands, and does not constrain, the participation of our people in this democracy. Mohlanthe said to their members, their supporters and to the voters of South Africa, be assured.

“The ANC is ready and our candidates are ready. We retain our confidence in the Electoral Commission and in its constitutional duty to deliver free, fair and credible elections, and we shall keep our people informed as this engagement proceeds,” he said.

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