The ANC has not ruled out taking legal action against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over the failure to register some of the party’s candidates for the upcoming local government elections.
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa was campaigning in Tembisa when he told the media that the party was considering all available options, including litigation.
Ramaphosa expressed hope that an agreement could be reached with the IEC but did not rule out court action.
“Well, there were some glitches with regard to the interface with the IEC system. The candidate list was there for the whole country. This is not only affecting the ANC. There are a number of other parties affected, I’m told 34, so there should be a solution because the technical glitches should not, in the end, prevent our people from electing their councillors.
“There are a number of options available: the Political Management Committee, the designated body, the Electoral Court – all those options are there,” said Ramaphosa.
The IEC has dismissed the ANC’s claim that technical glitches led to the party’s failure to submit some of its candidate lists.
However, Ramaphosa insists there were technical failures with the IEC system and cited the large number of ANC candidates as a contributing factor.
“I think it’s containable, it’s manageable, and there should be a solution that can be found. I guess with the ANC, it deals with so many candidates at one go – well over 10,000 candidates – and there were glitches in some of the municipalities,” he said.