ANC calls for probe after candidate lists allegedly kicked out of IEC system

· The South African

The African National Congress (ANC) has disputed the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) claim that some of its candidates were not finally submitted ahead of the 4 November Local Government Elections.

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ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party uploaded all its candidates from across the nine provinces and regions before the 17:00 deadline on Friday, 28 August.

Her comments come after the IEC said 2 274 potential candidates from 45 political parties had been captured on its Online Candidate Nomination System but were not finally submitted by the deadline.

ANC ALLEGES FINAL BATCH OF CANDIDATES WERE KICKED OUT OF IEC SYSTEM

The IEC said the affected candidates, comprising 480 potential proportional representation (PR) candidates and 1 794 potential ward candidates, were therefore not in contention for the elections.

However, Bhengu said the ANC’s candidates had been uploaded on time, but that the final batch of names was removed from the system shortly before the deadline.

“We did upload all of the candidates. It’s important to assure our members, supporters and our community that participated in the candidate selection process that took place. We did upload all of our candidates from all the nine provinces and regions on time,” Bhengu said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.

She said the ANC’s candidate selection process had taken time because the party conducts extensive vetting, interviews and community consultations before finalising its lists.

“The 28th of August was the final day of submission of the final list. Why it took place then is because the ANC undergoes an extensive process of vetting and interviewing and holding community meetings. All of this takes time,” she said.

According to Bhengu, the issue was not that the ANC failed to comply with the IEC’s deadline, but that a portion of the party’s candidates was allegedly removed from the system before the deadline.

“The very last portion of the batch is when the system started kicking them out. That was before five o’clock,” she said.

PARTY CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

Bhengu said the ANC is asking the IEC to consider the candidates who had already been captured on the commission’s system but were allegedly removed before the submission deadline.

“We are not discussing here a lack of compliance on the part of the African National Congress with regards to meeting the deadline but a batch of names on the uploaded list that were kicked out,” she said.

“We are asking the IEC to consider for submission all those candidates who had already been captured in the IEC system but were kicked out.”

The ANC is also calling for an investigation into why the final batch of candidates was removed from the system.

“The second thing we are asking is to get to the bottom of why the very last batch was kicked out. We are asking for an investigation and this will get us to the bottom of the issue,” Bhengu said.

She suggested that possible technological problems with the nomination system should be investigated.

Bhengu also rejected the suggestion that the dispute meant the ANC was in conflict with the IEC.

“This ties in with the question of are we fighting with the IEC? We are not. We respect and continue to have the full confidence in the integrity of the IEC-run processes,” she said.

She described the IEC as one of the country’s most important democratic institutions and said the ANC hoped the matter could be resolved through constructive engagement.

“It continues being one of the most important institutions and hallmarks of our democracy and that is why we hope that a constructive engagement can take place and an investigation on whether there were technological challenges that were not foreseen,” Bhengu said.

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