CAPE TOWN, Tuesday 10 November 2026 — The Electoral Court has dismissed an application by two African National Congress (ANC) ward candidates seeking to overturn an earlier ruling that declared their nominations for the 2026 local government elections unlawful.
The judgment, delivered on Monday, concerns Lungisa Somdaka and Mncedi Mdludla, who were nominated by the ANC to contest Wards 33 and 88 respectively in the City of Cape Town.
The court found that the two candidates had failed to establish grounds for rescinding its September judgment, which concluded that the ANC had breached its own candidate-selection rules.
Court upholds earlier findings against ANC nominations
The dispute was brought by ANC branch officials Siphelo Mtshetsha and Siphelele Bobozayo, who challenged the party’s decision to submit Somdaka and Mdludla as its ward candidates.
They argued that the nominations disregarded the outcomes of internal selection processes and decisions made by the ANC’s dispute-resolution structures.
On 15 September, the Electoral Court set aside the ANC’s decisions to nominate Somdaka and Mdludla, finding that the party had acted contrary to its constitution and candidate-selection procedures.
The earlier order directed the ANC to replace Somdaka with Sithembiso Mzobe in Ward 33 and Mdludla with Zukisani Sophazi in Ward 88.
Somdaka and Mdludla subsequently applied to have that judgment rescinded, arguing, among other things, that they had not received proper notice of the original proceedings.
Judges find no grounds to rescind order
In the latest judgment, Judge Leonard Adams, with Deputy President Dumisani Zondi and Acting Judge Shongwe concurring, found that the applicants had not demonstrated a genuine defence with reasonable prospects of success.
The court noted that the two candidates had not disputed the central finding that the ANC’s final nominations disregarded the results of its internal selection processes.
The judgment also recorded concessions concerning the unlawfulness of the ANC National Executive Committee’s nomination decisions.
The court dismissed the rescission application and made no order as to costs.
Internal candidate-selection disputes examined
The original proceedings concerned the ANC’s handling of candidate nominations in two Cape Town wards.
In Ward 33, the court recorded that Mzobe received 53 votes during a rerun of the final branch general meeting, compared with 16 for Somdaka.
Despite that result, Somdaka’s name was submitted to the Electoral Commission as the party’s candidate.
In Ward 88, Sophazi emerged from rerun community nomination meetings held following an internal dispute-resolution decision.
However, the ANC submitted Mdludla’s name as its candidate.
The court found that the party’s decisions were inconsistent with its own candidate-selection rules and that affected members had been denied a proper opportunity to challenge the nominations internally.
Electoral deadlines remain binding
The judgment also addressed the limits of the Electoral Commission’s authority to change candidate nominations after statutory deadlines.
The court reaffirmed that electoral timetables must be applied consistently and that the commission cannot grant individual political parties exemptions from nomination deadlines outside the provisions of electoral legislation.
It distinguished the unlawfulness of the ANC’s internal nomination decisions from the separate legal question of whether the commission could be compelled to accept replacement nominations after the deadline.
The court’s latest ruling does not itself establish that any post-election council seat has changed hands or that a fresh election will take place.
The judgment leaves the September findings against the ANC’s nomination decisions standing, while the practical implications for the affected wards and any subsequent electoral administration will depend on the applicable legal processes.
