Parties scramble to meet IEC’s candidate deadline for November 4 vote

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says his party met the crucial Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) deadline for parties to submit their lists of councillor candidates for the local government elections by 5pm on Friday.

This follows a scare that the ANC would not be able to meet the August 28 deadline as party leaders disagreed on the composition of its municipal councillor candidate lists during several meetings of the national executive committee (NEC) that ran late into the night this week.

Some ANC structures in the Eastern Cape had also threatened to mount a legal challenge over the composition of the list of candidates nominated to serve in the Buffalo City metro should the ANC retain it in the elections.

There were also concerns that the Eastern Cape would not have enough time to finalise its candidate lists, as its provincial executive committee was only reinstated on August 19 following its disbandment in May, which has since been overturned by the high court.

“It appears as if a substantial majority of registered parties have submitted candidates.” — IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo

Mbalula told the Sunday Times on Saturday that the ANC had met the deadline to submit the lists of candidates to contest all 257 municipalities, with the required IEC deposit of more than R730,000 already paid.

In terms of electoral law, parties are required to pay a deposit of R4,700 for every metro it contests, a further R2,800 for a local municipality and another R1,800 for district municipalities.

Mbalula dismissed claims that the ANC had missed the IEC deadline, especially in Eastern Cape municipalities. “No, it’s not true. We submitted all our candidates and paid in advance,” he said.

During the previous local government elections in 2021, the ANC failed to submit candidate lists in at least 20 municipalities and 598 wards countrywide within the stipulated timeframe. But following a court challenge by the DA, they were thrown a lifeline by the Constitutional Court after it upheld the IEC’s decision to reset the 2021 electoral deadline due to the pandemic lockdown at the time.

By law, a party that misses the deadline to submit a list of proportional representation and ward candidates in a municipality it intends to contest is automatically barred from entering the electoral race. The IEC said ahead of this year’s Friday deadline that it was not going to grant a deadline extension.

By the close of business on Friday, a total of 519 out of the more than 700 registered parties had complied with the deadline.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told the Sunday Times that a majority of the registered political parties met the deadline to submit their councillor candidate lists.

“It appears as if a substantial majority of registered parties have submitted candidates.