South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the ANC on Thursday, ordering the Electoral Commission (IEC) to reinstate 181 councillor candidates across six municipalities for the November 4 local government elections, SABC News reported.
The candidates had been excluded after the party uploaded their details and paid deposits but failed to complete the final submission step on the IEC's online nomination system before the August 28 deadline. The affected municipalities are in the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, and the exclusion had left the ANC without candidates in two of them.
The ANC argued the final step was a software requirement rather than a legal one. The IEC maintained its system had no glitches and that parties were responsible for meeting deadlines. The Democratic Alliance, which opposed the appeal, said it respects the judgment while warning about the precedent for deadline compliance.
SABC also reported that ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula collapsed during a media briefing outside the court and was receiving medical attention, with a party spokesperson saying he was expected to recover.
