KLERKSDORP, Friday 11 September 2026 — Three sitting ANC councillors in the City of Matlosana have approached the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to challenge their exclusion from the party’s candidate lists for the 4 November local government elections, alleging that branch-level selection processes were improperly altered.
Ward 20 councillor Lehlohonolo Fortunate Mahogen, Ward 1 councillor Gabriel Pakiso Mqikela and Ward 22 councillor Thabo Matsau lodged the urgent proceedings after saying they had exhausted the ANC’s internal appeals process. The ANC’s North West leadership has confirmed that it was served with the application.
The case matters because Matlosana, centred on Klerksdorp, is one of North West’s largest municipalities and the ANC currently governs the 77-seat council with 40 councillors — only one seat above the number required for an outright majority.
Councillors allege branch processes were manipulated
The three councillors allege that Branch General Meetings held between July and 17 August were manipulated during the process of choosing ANC candidates for November’s municipal election.
Matsau said the councillors raised their complaints with several levels of the party, including the Dr Kenneth Kaunda regional leadership, North West provincial structures, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and the party’s National Electoral Committee.
He said they did not receive a satisfactory resolution and subsequently turned to the High Court.
The applicants want decisions that resulted in their exclusion reviewed and set aside.
Those claims remain allegations before the court. No judicial finding has established that the ANC manipulated the Matlosana lists.
Ward 1 dispute seeks to block replacement nominee
Mqikela’s complaint provides one of the clearest examples of the disputed selection process.
According to court papers reported by Daily Sun, he says he received 248 votes in the community nomination process and 106 votes during the subsequent branch meeting, but was nevertheless removed from the candidate list.
He is seeking an urgent interdict preventing the ANC and its relevant structures from giving effect to the nomination of Richardine Kalane while his challenge is determined.
The court will have to decide whether the party followed its own candidate-selection rules and whether any departure from those procedures warrants judicial intervention.
Ward 20 councillor won seat only four months ago
Mahogen’s exclusion is particularly notable because he entered the Matlosana council only four months ago through a strongly contested by-election.
He won Ward 20 in Kanana for the ANC on 13 May 2026, securing 1,008 votes, or 81.03% of ballots cast.
The Patriotic Alliance finished second on 10.93%, while the EFF received 8.04%.
The by-election followed the death of the previous councillor and allowed the ANC to retain a ward it already controlled.
Mahogen is therefore challenging his exclusion from the general-election slate only months after voters elected him under the ANC banner.
Councillors say they remain ANC members
Despite suing their own party, the councillors say they have not resigned from the ANC and intend continuing to campaign for it.
Matsau said their court application was aimed at challenging the candidate-selection decision rather than leaving the organisation.
That distinguishes the dispute from recent municipal defections elsewhere in the country, where disgruntled councillors have left their parties and joined rival organisations ahead of November.
For now, the Matlosana dispute remains an internal ANC contest that has moved into the courts.
ANC confirms it was served
ANC North West provincial secretary Louis Diremelo confirmed that the party knew about the proceedings and had been served with the papers.
The ANC has not publicly accepted the councillors’ allegations that branch processes were manipulated.
Nationally, the party has maintained that its municipal candidate-selection system included branch nominations, community participation, vetting and oversight through its electoral structures.
The ANC convened a special National Executive Committee meeting on 27 August specifically to consider outstanding matters arising from the 2026 list process before nominations closed.
The Matlosana litigation demonstrates that some internal disputes persisted even after that national intervention.
Candidate battles carry added weight in closely held council
Matlosana’s current political arithmetic raises the stakes.
The ANC holds 40 of the council’s 77 seats, while the DA has 16, the EFF nine, the Freedom Front Plus seven, the Patriotic Alliance two, Forum 4 Service Delivery two and the ACDP one, according to reporting around the May by-election.
That leaves the ANC with a narrow outright majority going into November.
Internal candidate disputes do not automatically translate into lost votes, but divisions involving sitting ward councillors can affect local campaign structures, branch mobilisation and relationships with communities that participated in candidate nominations.
The dispute therefore carries more electoral significance than an ordinary internal party grievance.
Wider ANC list controversy forms backdrop
The Matlosana case is separate from the ANC’s current Electoral Court battle over 181 nominations in six municipalities that the IEC says were captured electronically but not finally submitted before the statutory deadline.
The North West councillors’ case instead concerns who the ANC chose to nominate, rather than whether the IEC received nominations on time.
That distinction is important.
A victory by the ANC in its IEC case would not automatically resolve these Matlosana grievances, because they involve the legality and fairness of the party’s own selection process.
The three councillors are effectively asking the High Court to scrutinise decisions made before the final nominations reached the IEC.
Court challenge adds to election pressure in North West
The litigation comes less than two months before municipal voting and as parties intensify campaigning across North West.
Matlosana has struggled with longstanding problems including electricity, water, sewage infrastructure and municipal finances, making governance performance a central election issue.
Candidate disputes now add an organisational challenge for the ANC as it tries to defend its narrow council majority.
The immediate legal question is whether the High Court will intervene in the party’s selection decisions and, if so, whether any resulting order can still be implemented within the IEC’s election timetable.
With final candidate processes already at an advanced stage, any successful challenge could create further questions about how internal party remedies interact with statutory nomination deadlines.
For the ANC, the case also presents a broader political test: whether disputes involving candidates who say they won local support can be contained without weakening campaign structures in a municipality where a comparatively small swing could remove its outright majority.
