The African National Congress (ANC) cannot selectively challenge the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)’s online candidate nomination requirements after failing to meet the deadline, the commission’s lawyer advocate Terry Motau SC has argued before the Constitutional Court.
Motau said the ANC had used the commission’s Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) for a decade without disputing the process, including the requirement to click “submit as final” to complete candidate nominations.
“For the past ten years, until five o’clock on the 28th of August, 2026, the ANC jointly held a similar interpretation of the submission framework that was shared by the commission and the other political parties… It can choose those requirements that don’t appear in the regulations with which it has had to comply, and has in fact complied, to complete the process of uploading and capturing,” according to Motau.
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The party is challenging the electoral commission’s decision to exclude the 181 ANC candidates from six municipalities in the November 4 local government elections after failing to finalise their submissions as per the deadline.
Motau argued that the ANC’s interpretation of the law was inconsistent because it had complied with several steps required by the online system, even though those steps were not expressly listed in the electoral regulations, but was now disputing the legal status of the final confirmation button.
He told the court that the ANC could not rely on the system to capture candidate information and upload documents while rejecting the final step that completed the process.
“The issue is whether it is possible that the ANC’s argument can be sustained,” Motau said.
He questioned whether the party could choose which system requirements to recognise based on whether they appeared in the regulations.
He argued that the final submission requirement could not be considered in isolation from the other steps that enabled parties to use the system.
Motau also challenged the ANC’s reliance on alleged technical difficulties, saying the party had initially argued that problems with the system prevented it from completing its submissions but had since shifted its focus to whether the final confirmation button was legally required.
He said the commission had responded to the allegations in its court papers, maintaining that the alleged technical difficulties were not supported by its checks of the system. The fact that the ANC contacted the IEC’s help desk before the deadline did not establish that the system had malfunctioned, Motau argued.
“The answer that the commission gives to those allegations in the founding affidavit, it is specifically that the alleged technical difficulties were not borne out by the objective facts, i.e. the system was checked in accordance with what is said, and that those difficulties were not found.”
The IEC’s lawyer argued that the ANC could not now move away from that case and advance a different interpretation of the nomination requirements.
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Motau also told the court that the commission had conducted training sessions and demonstrations on how to use the online system. He said the system included prompts warning users when candidate information had been uploaded but not submitted as final.
“Numerous training sessions were conducted. There was a demonstration, or there were demonstrations, on how the system works.”
According to Motau, the commission had not introduced a new requirement after the deadline. Instead, it had applied the consequences of a process that had been communicated to political parties and used over several election cycles.
He further argued that the ANC had not applied for condonation under the applicable electoral rules, which provide for a strict time limit and require good cause to be shown where an application is late.
The IEC’s position is that the ANC’s failure to finalise its submissions by the deadline meant the affected nominations could not be accepted, rather than that the commission had imposed an additional obligation after the fact.
Motau also relied on previous Constitutional Court judgments concerning electoral deadlines and the integrity of elections. He cited a ruling involving the Inkatha Freedom Party, in which the court stressed that electoral rules must be applied consistently to protect public confidence in free and fair elections.
He argued that allowing the ANC to proceed despite failing to complete the required process would raise questions about equal treatment of political parties.
- The ANC failed to meet the deadline to finalise submissions for 181 candidates in six municipalities for the November 4 local government elections, leading to their exclusion by the IEC.
- The IEC's lawyer, Advocate Terry Motau SC, stated the ANC used the commission's Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) for ten years without disputing the requirement to click "submit as final."
- Motau argued the ANC cannot selectively challenge the online nomination requirements after complying with most steps but not the final confirmation button.
- The ANC initially cited technical difficulties with the system but later shifted to arguing the legal status of the final submission button; the IEC found no evidence of system malfunction.
- The IEC maintained that the final submission requirement was communicated and consistent across election cycles, and the ANC did not apply for condonation for its late submission.
