Inside parties’ list scramble as ANC survives deadline risk

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.