BLOEMFONTEIN, Friday 25 September 2026 — The Electoral Court has dismissed the MK Party’s attempt to overturn South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial election results, rejecting its argument that a temporary failure of the public results leaderboard showed that the Electoral Commission’s vote-capturing system had been manipulated.
The court found that the party had failed to follow the mandatory objection procedure in section 55 of the Electoral Act and that its attempt to review the declaration of the election results was therefore not competent in law.
It also rejected the factual foundation of the MK Party’s argument that the approximately two-hour disappearance of results from the public-facing leaderboard on 31 May 2024 compromised the underlying count.
The judgment comes less than six weeks before the 4 November local government elections, in which the MK Party is seeking to translate its strong 2024 performance, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, into control of municipalities.
Court says results continued to be captured
The MK Party based a substantial part of its challenge on what became known as the “leaderboard incident”.
During counting after the May 2024 election, the public results display at the national results operations centre went blank for about two hours.
The party argued that the interruption created an opportunity for interference with the results and cast doubt on the integrity of the IEC’s digital vote-capturing and reporting system.
The IEC rejected that argument.
It maintained that the problem affected the public display rather than the underlying results system and that capturing, auditing and verification continued during the interruption.
The Electoral Court accepted that explanation.
According to the judgment as reported by TimesLIVE and The Citizen, the audit trail showed that results continued to be captured and edited during the period and that no data was lost.
The court said there was no evidence demonstrating that the IEC’s results system lacked integrity.
MK Party’s inferences rejected
The court found that the IEC’s explanation rested on proven and undisputed evidence, while the MK Party’s case depended substantially on inferences drawn from the temporary disappearance of the leaderboard.
It rejected the reasoning underlying those inferences.
The Citizen reported the court as finding that the premise underlying the MK Party’s expert evidence was not sound.
The ruling therefore goes beyond finding a procedural defect in the party’s application.
It also rejects the central factual proposition that the public-display failure demonstrated manipulation of the underlying vote-capturing system.
Party also failed to use Electoral Act objection process
The second major difficulty identified by the court concerned the route through which the MK Party attempted to challenge the results.
Section 55 of the Electoral Act provides a statutory procedure through which objections material to the final result must be lodged.
The court found that the MK Party did not follow that mandatory process before attempting to review the IEC’s declaration of the results.
It held that the party could not avoid the consequences of that failure by presenting its later case as a review of the Commission’s decision to declare the election free and fair.
The review application was consequently not competent in law.
MK Party had sought to undo election that reshaped national politics
The stakes of the application were unusually high.
The 29 May 2024 election ended the ANC’s national parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994 and led to the formation of the Government of National Unity.
The MK Party emerged as the third-largest party nationally and the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal.
It nevertheless maintained that its official result understated its true support.
Former president and MK Party leader Jacob Zuma has continued publicly alleging that the party was deprived of votes.
Those allegations have now failed to persuade the Electoral Court.
Judgment lands during another election campaign
The timing gives the judgment immediate relevance beyond the historical 2024 dispute.
The IEC is preparing to administer the 4 November local government elections, while the MK Party is contesting municipalities nationally and is particularly competitive in KwaZulu-Natal.
The party’s relationship with the IEC has consequently remained politically important.
The ruling provides judicial support for the Commission’s position that the 2024 leaderboard incident did not compromise the underlying results system.
The IEC says the judgment also allows it to continue finalising internal and external auditing of its systems ahead of November’s vote.
Political parties are expected to receive direct access to the system for a period before election day to identify and raise technical concerns.
Zuma still disputes 2024 result
The judgment is unlikely by itself to end the political argument.
Zuma has continued telling supporters that the MK Party was unfairly treated in 2024, even while pledging that the party will comply with electoral rules during the November municipal election.
There is an important distinction between those political claims and the legal position.
The Electoral Court has now considered the party’s challenge and found both procedural and evidential problems with it.
Unless successfully overturned through a further legal process, the official 2024 election results remain undisturbed.
For the IEC, the judgment removes a major legal challenge to the integrity of its previous national election just as it enters the final operational phase of administering the next one.
