African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) have been spared further political embarrassment after two candidates they unlawfully sidelined went on to win their wards in Cape Town, despite a court finding that the party’s leadership had violated its own candidate selection rules.
The victories of Sithembiso Mzobe and Zukisani Sophazi in two wards in Philippi, on Cape Town’s Cape Flats, during last Wednesday’s local government elections have provided an ironic ending to a bitter internal battle in which the ANC’s national leadership disregarded the outcomes of its own democratic selection processes.
In a judgment delivered this week, the Electoral Court exposed how the party submitted the names of two candidates who had not emerged victorious from the prescribed nomination processes, prompting aggrieved branch leaders to challenge the decisions.
Judge Leicester Adams confirmed that the ANC NEC and Mbalula had acted unlawfully by submitting the names of Lungisa Somdaka and Mncedi Mdludla instead of the candidates who emerged from the prescribed processes.
“The submission of the names of Mr Somdaka and Mr Mdludla to the Electoral Commission was procedurally irrational, as it undermines the very purpose of the ANC’s Candidate Selection Rules,” Adams said.
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The judgment has raised questions about the ANC leadership’s commitment to internal democracy, particularly when the preferences of branch members clash with decisions taken higher up in the organisation.
Branch votes disregarded
The controversy began in Ward 33, where Mzobe defeated incumbent councillor Somdaka by 53 votes to 16 during a rerun branch general meeting on July 26. The rerun followed an internal dispute over the credibility of an earlier nomination process.
Despite Mzobe’s victory, Somdaka’s name was submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) as the ANC’s candidate.
A similar dispute unfolded in Ward 88, where Sophazi emerged victorious from rerun community meetings held on June 13 and 14. Instead of submitting Sophazi’s name, the ANC nominated Mdludla.
The court found that these decisions violated the ANC’s constitution and candidate selection rules.
The judgment also revealed that the ANC failed to publish its approved candidate lists on its website, effectively denying members the opportunity to challenge nominations within the prescribed 48-hour objection period.
“No final approved list was ever published on the ANC’s website, and thus the applicants’ right to object was unfairly violated,” Adams said.
The court concluded that the nomination decisions were irrational, unreasonable and inconsistent with the democratic processes the ANC had established for selecting ward candidates.
Candidates deliver victories despite leadership dispute
Ironically, the two candidates whose nominations were disregarded by the ANC leadership ultimately delivered victories for the party.
Mzobe secured 2,348 votes, representing 37.6% of the vote in Ward 33, defeating the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which received 1,947 votes or 31.1%.
In Ward 88, Sophazi received 2,624 votes, representing 40.3%, ahead of the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s 1,639 votes or 25.2%.
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The victories spared the ANC the additional embarrassment of losing the two wards at the centre of the legal controversy.
However, the results also revealed declining support for the governing party in both communities.
In Ward 33, ANC support dropped from 70.8% in 2021 to 37.6%, while Ward 88 recorded a decline from 64.6% to 40.3%.
The results mean that the candidates whose nominations the ANC leadership initially disregarded have secured the electoral mandates to represent the party in their respective communities.
Court rejects final challenge after elections
The Electoral Court had already ruled on September 15 that the ANC’s nominations of Somdaka and Mdludla were unlawful.
It ordered the party to remove their names and replace them with Mzobe and Sophazi within five days.
However, Somdaka and Mdludla launched a rescission application on October 9, arguing that they had not been properly notified of the original court proceedings.
Their challenge was still pending when voters went to the polls on November 4. Five days later, the court dismissed the application, finding that the two had failed to establish a genuine defence to the earlier ruling.
“What is more is that the eighth and ninth respondents concede that the ANC NEC’s decision was unlawful,” Adams said.
The judgment nevertheless presents an unresolved legal question because the court also found that the IEC could not be compelled to accept candidate substitutions after the statutory nomination deadline.
The circumstances under which the disputed nominations were changed before the elections and the effect of the pending rescission application remain to be clarified with the IEC.
For Mbalula and the ANC NEC, the outcome carries a peculiar political irony: the party retained both wards through candidates whose nominations its leadership had unlawfully displaced.
But while the electoral victories may have spared the ANC further losses, the court’s findings leave its national leadership facing uncomfortable questions about the integrity of its candidate selection processes.
The ANC will be asked to explain who authorised the disputed nominations, why the outcomes of the prescribed selection processes were disregarded and what steps will be taken to prevent similar violations.
- The ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and National Executive Committee unlawfully sidelined candidates Sithembiso Mzobe and Zukisani Sophazi, who nonetheless won their Cape Town wards.
- The Electoral Court ruled that submitting Lungisa Somdaka and Mncedi Mdludla as candidates violated the ANC’s constitution and candidate selection rules.
- The ANC failed to publish approved candidate lists on its website, denying members the right to object to nominations within the prescribed 48-hour period.
- Mzobe won Ward 33 with 2,348 votes (37.6%) against the EFF, and Sophazi won Ward 88 with 2,624 votes (40.3%) against the DA, despite ANC leadership disputes.
- The court dismissed the rescission application by Somdaka and Mdludla after the November 4 elections, confirming the ANC NEC’s decision was unlawful but left unresolved legal issues concerning candidate substitutions with the IEC.
