High court rules against councillor in ANC candidate row

An ANC councillor has lost his court bid to reclaim the party’s ward candidacy, with a judge accusing his branch leadership of trying to block a rival instead of following the party’s candidate selection rules.

Western Cape High Court judge Daniel Thulare dismissed Anele Gabuza’s urgent application on Monday, ruling that he had failed to prove that the ANC unlawfully removed him and replaced him with Yanga Mjingwana for the 2026 local government elections for ward 98 in Khayelitsha.

In a stinging assessment of the dispute, the judge said: “The BEC [branch executive committee] messed up the branch candidate selection process in the ward.”

He also warned Gabuza against using the courts to fight a political battle without the evidence needed to win.

“A courtroom is the worst choice of site for a politician to campaign. It is a bad political war room,” Thulare said.

The ruling means Mjingwana remains the ANC’s candidate for Ward 98, while Gabuza’s attempt to have the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) register him instead has failed.

The ANC’s rules allow the matric requirement to be waived in exceptional circumstances. The responsibility for investigating candidates’ qualifications and criminal records rested with the appropriate party structures

Gabuza, the serving councillor for the ward, approached the court after the ANC selected Mjingwana despite Gabuza receiving the highest number of votes at the branch’s final general meeting on July 8.

He argued that his removal was unlawful, arbitrary and done without following the party’s rules. He wanted the decision set aside and his candidacy restored.

But the judge found that Gabuza had failed to provide sufficient evidence to show that the ANC’s higher structures had acted outside their powers or ignored the party’s procedures. Thulare said the ANC’s candidate selection rules gave the provincial list committee responsibility for screening and vetting candidates before their names went to higher structures for approval.

The BEC, he said, had no authority to conduct its own vetting or disqualify Mjingwana based on suspicions about his qualifications and alleged criminal history.

“The BEC made itself guilty of that tendency,” the judge said, referring to gatekeeping within the party’s candidate selection process.

The branch had questioned whether Mjingwana had a matric certificate and raised allegations about a previous criminal conviction. However, the judge said Gabuza had not established that Mjingwana lacked a matric certificate.

The ANC’s rules allow the matric requirement to be waived in exceptional circumstances. The responsibility for investigating candidates’ qualifications and criminal records rested with the appropriate party structures.

Thulare said the branch should have submitted its concerns and supporting evidence to the provincial list committee instead of trying to exclude Mjingwana itself.

He also criticised Gabuza for failing to disclose key information about his own screening and vetting, as well as the assessment of his performance as a serving councillor.

The BEC’s hostile mindset towards one of the contestants, Mjingwana, did not only compromise them, but the process as well—  Judge Daniel Thulare

The judge said Gabuza had to prove both that the ANC failed to follow its rules when selecting Mjingwana and that he himself met the requirements to become a candidate.

The evidence also showed that Mjingwana had won the community vote at an earlier meeting, receiving 202 votes against Gabuza’s 181.

The judge said the branch leadership had failed to appreciate that the selection process did not end with the branch vote and that higher ANC structures still had responsibilities to fulfil.

“The BEC’s hostile mindset towards one of the contestants, Mjingwana, did not only compromise them, but the process as well,” he said.

The court also rejected Gabuza’s request for an order compelling the IEC to replace Mjingwana with him.

The commission had certified the candidate lists on September 16 and issued candidate certificates on September 25, by which time ballot-paper printing had begun.

Gabuza had been informed of Mjingwana’s selection on August 26 but approached the court too late to allow the IEC to make the changes he wanted.

Thulare said changing the lists at that stage would disrupt the commission’s preparations and could undermine the freeness and fairness of the elections.

The judge said election disputes must be brought as early as possible because of their potential impact on the electoral process.