BLOEMFONTEIN, Thursday 3 September 2026 — The ANC’s municipal candidate-submission problems extend beyond the Eastern Cape to parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, including a potentially serious problem affecting Mangaung, according to new reporting on the party’s nominations ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
Business Day reported on Thursday that people involved in the ANC’s nomination process said at least three municipalities in the Eastern Cape, one municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and one in the Free State were affected by candidate lists that were captured on the Electoral Commission’s system but not finally submitted before the 28 August deadline.
The Free State problem is believed to involve Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, which includes Bloemfontein and is the province’s largest municipality.
In KwaZulu-Natal, Business Day reported that the affected municipality may be uMshwathi, where the problem appears to involve the ANC’s proportional-representation list rather than its ward nominations.
The information materially broadens an electoral problem that had initially been concentrated publicly around incomplete ANC submissions in the Eastern Cape.
The IEC said this week that 2,274 prospective candidates from 45 political parties were captured on its Online Candidate Nomination System but were not formally submitted by the 17:00 deadline on 28 August.
Those names are therefore not currently regarded as candidates for the November election.
The ANC disputes the implication that its affected nominations were simply submitted late.
In an official statement issued on 31 August, the party said it had successfully lodged the “overwhelming majority” of its candidates before the deadline, but alleged that technical problems with the IEC’s candidate-capture system prevented a small number of entries from being finalised.
The ANC said those entries had already been captured on the system and were being dealt with through the commission’s processes.
The IEC has rejected the claim that its system failed.
IEC chair Mosotho Moepya said this week that the commission’s platform remained operational throughout the nomination period, while chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said no system failure had been reported on deadline day.
The commission has also said it will not reopen the nomination process to allow new names to be added after the deadline.
That distinction could become particularly significant in Mangaung.
If the ANC’s affected list involves the metro’s proportional-representation nominations, the party could lose access to seats awarded through the PR component of the municipal electoral system, depending on the final status of those submissions.
Independent regional reporting has also claimed that Mangaung and parts of Lejweleputswa were affected by PR-list problems, although those reports have not yet been confirmed through a published IEC municipality-by-municipality list.
The extent of any Mangaung impact should therefore be treated as unresolved until the IEC completes verification.
Mangaung has particular political importance for the ANC because the party has faced persistent internal disputes, governance instability and factional tensions in the metro.
ANC members protested over disputed candidate selections during the party’s recent Free State campaign launch, underscoring how sensitive the municipal list process was before the IEC submission deadline.
The emerging KwaZulu-Natal problem could also matter electorally if the reported uMshwathi PR submission is confirmed.
uMshwathi is currently governed by the IFP, with the ANC competing in a province where the local election is expected to feature intense competition among the IFP, MK Party, ANC and other parties.
The IEC’s candidate-verification process begins on 4 September, after which parties may be asked to provide outstanding supporting documents for candidates who were validly submitted.
That process does not amount to reopening nominations for names that were never formally lodged.
Final candidate lists are due to be published on 16 September, when the full electoral consequences of the ANC’s submission problems should become clearer.
Until then, the central dispute remains whether the affected candidates were validly submitted before the deadline but not finalised because of a technical problem, as the ANC argues, or whether they were merely captured but never formally submitted, as the IEC maintains.
