KUGOMPO, Thursday 1 October 2026 — The High Court has ordered the African National Congress and secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to submit electronic branch-attendance data for the entire Eastern Cape to the court within 10 court days, extending a months-long internal party dispute weeks before the local government elections.
Judge Avinash Govindjee ordered the ANC and Mbalula to deliver electronic membership-system results recording branch attendances across the province for 2025 and 2026.
The information must be delivered electronically to the registrar through secure means determined by the court and kept separate from the publicly accessible court file.
The ruling stems from litigation by ANC members Lwazi Rotya, Sinethemba Mpande and Nompumelelo Mzothwa over the party’s Eastern Cape branch-verification process.
Their dispute has already disrupted attempts by the ANC to hold a provincial elective conference and resulted in separate litigation over the party’s provincial leadership structures.
Court enforces ANC undertaking
The latest case centred on an undertaking previously made by the ANC and Mbalula to make electronic membership-system results available for judicial scrutiny.
The applicants argued that the undertaking had not been properly fulfilled.
Govindjee found that the ANC had agreed to place the electronic results before the court and allow the applicants’ lawyers to inspect them under judicial supervision.
While the court rejected the applicants’ contention that they were entitled to copies of the underlying database, it found that the ANC had not fulfilled the part of its undertaking requiring the data to be delivered to the court.
Court or otherwise placed before it,” Govindjee said in the judgment.
The judge ordered the ANC and Mbalula to comply within 10 court days.
Lawyers permitted controlled access
The court imposed restrictions intended to protect the personal information of ANC members contained in the database.
The applicants’ lawyers may inspect the records and take written notes, but may not copy, photograph, download, reproduce or remove the electronic results.
Information obtained from the records may only be used in the existing court proceedings.
Documents subsequently filed in the case that reveal identifying information about individual ANC members must either be placed under seal or have those details redacted.
The ANC and Mbalula must also provide an affidavit within five court days after delivering the information, confirming what was submitted and that the records are complete.
POPIA does not prevent court access, judge finds
The ANC had previously raised concerns that disclosure of its membership records could breach the Protection of Personal Information Act because the information reveals members’ political affiliation.
Govindjee found that POPIA did not prevent the limited disclosure ordered by the court.
The legislation permits processing of special personal information where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal right or obligation, the judgment said.
Rather than removing potentially relevant information through prior redaction, the court imposed confidentiality restrictions governing who may access the records and how they may be used.
Dispute began with halted provincial conference
The litigation forms part of a wider battle over the ANC’s structures in the Eastern Cape.
Rotya, Mpande and Mzothwa successfully approached the court earlier this year over disputes surrounding branch verification and the party’s planned provincial elective conference.
The conference was halted in March.
After the ANC subsequently established a provincial task team, the same members challenged that structure.
The High Court in Makhanda ruled in June that the establishment of the task team was unlawful and invalid. The ANC later failed in its application for leave to appeal that decision.
The latest judgment does not determine whether the underlying branch-attendance records were manipulated or whether irregularities occurred.
Instead, it determines how the information must be made available so that the applicants’ underlying challenge can proceed.
Eastern Cape dispute continues into election campaign
The continuing litigation comes as the ANC campaigns for the 4 November local government elections in a province where it remains a major political force.
Internal structures play an important role in candidate selection, campaign organisation and mobilisation ahead of elections.
The court dispute has therefore continued alongside the party’s preparations for municipal contests across the Eastern Cape.
Once the electronic records have been lodged, the applicants’ legal representatives will be able to inspect them and use relevant information to supplement their case.
The underlying dispute over the ANC’s Eastern Cape branch-verification process remains before the court.
