‘Rules must apply equally’: MK Party takes aim at IEC over ANC candidates

The Electoral Commission

Cape Town – The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has warned the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) against giving the ANC preferential treatment in the wake of a dispute over councillor candidate submissions for the upcoming local government elections.

The warning follows an appeal by the ANC for the IEC to process more than 100 councillor candidates whom the party says were captured on the commission’s Online Candidate Nomination System before the 17:00 deadline on 28 August, but could not be formally finalised because of technical problems.

The ANC said it had successfully submitted the “overwhelming majority” of its candidates but encountered difficulties on the final day of the nomination process.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party’s problems were linked to technical issues experienced on the IEC’s system.

“On the day of lodgement, the commission’s candidate-capture system experienced technical issues that affected a number of contesting parties,” Bhengu said, according to IOL.

“As a result, a small number of the movement’s entries are being finalised together with the Commission,” she said, describing the matter as “a technical and administrative matter”.

The ANC has maintained that it is not asking the IEC to accept late nominations or allow new candidates to be added to its lists.

Instead, the party wants the commission to recognise candidate information that it says had already been submitted and stored on the system before the nomination deadline.

However, the IEC has disputed the claim that its candidate nomination system experienced technical problems.

The commission said the system remained accessible throughout the nomination period and that no political party or independent candidate would be given additional time to complete outstanding submissions.

“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.

It added that the “Online Candidate Nomination System remained available to users throughout the nomination process, including the cut-off date”.

Technical difficulties

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission had not received any report indicating that its candidate nomination system was non-functional on the deadline day.

Mamabolo said technical difficulties could potentially have occurred elsewhere in the broader internet or electricity infrastructure, but maintained that the IEC’s own system was operational.

The commission also pointed out that political parties had been able to capture candidate information on the system from 21 June, giving them more than two months to complete the process before the deadline.

The MK Party has now entered the dispute, accusing the ANC and IEC of potentially seeking to undermine the electoral deadline.

MK Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu said the same electoral rules must apply to the ANC as they do to every other political party.

He argued that the ANC should not receive special consideration because it experienced difficulties close to the deadline.

“The former liberation movement, the ANC, cannot expect the country to simply accept this explanation without scrutiny,” Mahlangu said.

He called on the IEC to provide a public explanation if a technical malfunction did occur and to identify the candidate submissions allegedly affected by the problem.

The MK Party has also linked the latest dispute to its ongoing legal challenge over technical problems involving the IEC’s results dashboard during the 2024 national and provincial elections.

The party has previously alleged that the disappearance of the results dashboard affected its election outcome. The IEC has rejected claims that the glitch changed the election results.

Mahlangu said the MK Party would oppose any move that could result in the electoral rules being applied differently to different parties.

“What we will not accept is a situation where the rules are rigidly enforced against opposition parties while the ANC is given the benefit of the doubt, special accommodation or a political solution to alter the deadline,” Mahlangu said.  

Picture: X/@IECSouthAfrica

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Compiled by Glaan Sibuyi

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