EAST LONDON, Thursday 3 September 2026 — ANC Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi has demanded a detailed account from secretary-general Fikile Mbalula over incomplete candidate submissions for November’s local government elections, escalating the party’s nomination problems into an internal dispute over responsibility less than two months before voting day.
In a letter dated 31 August, Ngcukayitobi asked Mbalula’s office to provide a municipality-by-municipality account of the ANC’s ward and proportional-representation candidates submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
He also requested confirmation of the party’s compliance status with the IEC, according to the letter reported by the Sunday Times and TimesLIVE.
Ngcukayitobi specifically highlighted the OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Sundays River and Walter Sisulu regions.
He requested the information by 1pm on 1 September, saying it was needed to help the provincial executive committee and provincial election team strengthen their systems, ensure compliance and protect the integrity of the candidate-selection process.
The intervention follows conflicting explanations from the ANC’s national office and the IEC about why some of the party’s nominations were not completed before the 5pm deadline on 28 August.
Mbalula’s office said earlier this week that the ANC had successfully submitted the “overwhelming majority” of its candidates but that technical problems with the IEC’s Online Candidate Nomination System had affected a small number of entries.
The national office said those entries were being dealt with through the commission’s established processes.
The IEC has disputed the suggestion that its system malfunctioned.
Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said on Wednesday that the commission’s records showed no evidence that its candidate-nomination system had been non-functional on deadline day.
He said external factors elsewhere in the internet infrastructure could affect users, but maintained that the IEC’s own systems had remained operational.
The commission had opened its online nomination system on 21 June, before the formal nomination period started, to give parties additional time to capture candidates.
IEC guidance provides parties with two methods of lodging nominations: through the online system or by manual submission at the relevant municipal IEC office before the deadline.
The scale of the ANC’s incomplete submissions in the Eastern Cape is not yet publicly clear, and neither the IEC nor the party has published a definitive list of affected wards and municipalities.
That makes Ngcukayitobi’s request politically significant.
Rather than accepting the national office’s general explanation, the provincial secretary is seeking documentation showing which candidates were submitted, where submissions were completed and whether the IEC considers the ANC compliant in each affected area.
Sunday Times reported that ANC provincial leaders were aware of the letter but said it had not been authorised by the provincial executive committee.
The dispute also follows earlier tensions between Ngcukayitobi and Mbalula over ANC organisational processes in the Eastern Cape.
Earlier this year, Ngcukayitobi raised concerns with national leaders about membership systems and preparations for the party’s provincial conference, while Mbalula later criticised the public handling of internal disputes.
The latest disagreement carries more immediate electoral consequences because candidate-registration failures can determine whether a party is able to contest particular ward or proportional-representation seats.
The IEC has said it will not provide political parties or independent candidates with an additional opportunity to capture nominations after the deadline.
Mamabolo said the commission was now examining submissions as part of the candidate-compliance process.
The Eastern Cape remains one of the ANC’s most important electoral provinces and includes the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipalities, alongside numerous councils where the party currently governs.
There is no indication from the available reporting that the unresolved submissions involve either metro specifically, and the final electoral impact cannot be determined until the affected candidate records are identified.
The IEC is expected to publish final candidate lists on 16 September, making the coming two weeks critical for determining which nominations are valid and which candidates will ultimately appear on the 4 November ballot.
Until then, pressure is likely to remain on both the ANC’s national and Eastern Cape leadership to establish precisely what was submitted before the deadline and where the party may have lost opportunities to field candidates.
