Local Government Elections 2026: ANC election-list war heats up as Eastern Cape secretary threatens to sue Fikile Mbalula

The fallout from the ANC’s candidate-list blunder has escalated into a clash between the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, and its Eastern Cape secretary, Lulama Ngcukayitobi, who is threatening to sue Mbalula for defamation for claiming that he was responsible for the province’s failure to submit its lists on time.

Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers have given Mbalula until 12 midday on Tuesday, 22 September to retract what they describe as “falsehoods” about the provincial secretary’s alleged role in the ANC’s candidate-list debacle.

The demand follows a report by Mbalula that was presented to ANC officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, in which Mbalula reportedly attributed the Eastern Cape’s candidate-list problems to the provincial leadership, and specifically Ngcukayitobi.

According to the report, as cited in the Sunday Times, Ngcukayitobi allegedly submitted the province’s final candidate list to the ANC’s operations centre at 4.31pm on 28 August, just 29 minutes before the IEC’s 5pm deadline.

Mbalula reportedly argued that the short window left the ANC’s data centre with insufficient time to process the provincial list, check it against information already held, capture changes and submit the affected municipal lists to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

The report says the Eastern Cape’s workbook recorded its last save at 2.31pm on 28 August, two hours before the file reached the data centre and two hours and 29 minutes before the deadline, while 35 identity-number corrections had already consumed more than four hours.

It is for that reason Mbalula believes that the Eastern Cape’s blunder had nothing to do with the IEC’s systems but rather reflected an internal ANC failure in which the province “left itself no margin”.

Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers, however, have rejected that account and accused Mbalula of attempting to shift responsibility for the wider candidate-list crisis.

‘False and defamatory’

In a letter seen by Daily Maverick, Mabuza Attorneys, acting for Ngcukayitobi, said the ANC provincial secretary had been defamed by statements attributed to Mbalula in that report and subsequent media coverage.

The lawyers said the report falsely claimed that Ngcukayitobi was responsible for the Eastern Cape ANC’s failure to submit its candidate lists timeously.

They further disputed an implication that Ngcukayitobi had altered a candidate list that had already been approved by the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

“To your knowledge, the claims you made are false, defamatory and/or intended to carry a defamatory innuendo,” the lawyers wrote.

The letter says Ngcukayitobi was only aware of one instance in which Mbalula personally instructed that a list be altered, which included the removal of Andile Lungisa’s name from the proportional representation list for Nelson Mandela Bay.

“To your knowledge, our client is not responsible for the alteration of any lists,” the letter states.

The dispute comes against the backdrop of the ANC’s wider candidate-list crisis, which saw the party fail to finalise submissions for candidates in six municipalities before the IEC’s 5pm deadline on 28 August.

The Electoral Court has since dismissed the ANC’s challenge against the IEC, leaving 181 ANC candidates affected across the six municipalities. The party has resolved to appeal the judgment, while the IEC has moved ahead with the finalisation of candidates for the 4 November local government elections.

‘Shifting blame from yourself’

Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers went further, accusing Mbalula of trying to shift responsibility for the candidate-list failure away from himself as the ANC’s administrative head.

They alleged that administrative vulnerabilities had built up over months, linking the chaos to Mbalula’s intervention in Eastern Cape governance structures.

“In addition to their falsity, the impugned statements are motivated by malice and the desire to shift blame from yourself,” the letter states.

They alleged that Mbalula’s conduct included causing an “illegal provincial conference” to be convened in March, installing a “so-called Provincial Task Team [PTT]” and sidelining the duly elected Provincial Executive Committee and provincial secretary until their “belated ‘reinstatement’” shortly before the IEC deadline.

The PTT was appointed by Mbalula in May to temporarily oversee the Eastern Cape after the province’s elected leadership’s term had lapsed and the ANC’s 10th provincial elective conference was blocked. However, the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda subsequently declared the task team unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid after three ANC members challenged its establishment.

The lawyers argue that this conduct contributed to the eventual failure to submit the lists on time.

Ngcukayitobi is demanding a “full and unconditional and mutually agreed retraction” of the statements attributed to Mbalula. Should Mbalula fail to retract them by the Tuesday deadline, the letter says, Ngcukayitobi intends to approach the high court for a declaration that Mbalula defamed him.

His lawyers also warned Mbalula against making further public statements about the dispute.

“Should you resort to such antics, that will be regarded as aggravation of the defamation and will be reflected in the anticipated court proceedings as such,” they said.

Mbalula facing multiple legal battles

The Ngcukayitobi dispute adds another legal front for Mbalula as the ANC grapples with the fallout from its candidate-list problems.

ANC NEC member Andile Lungisa has taken Mbalula and the party to court over his removal from the ANC’s candidate list for Nelson Mandela Bay. Lungisa alleges that Mbalula personally instructed officials to remove his name despite the NEC having approved his candidacy.

Lungisa is seeking a declaration that his removal was unlawful. His case is separate from the IEC deadline dispute and concerns the ANC’s internal candidate-selection process.

Mbalula is also embroiled in a separate defamation battle with ANC NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma over her allegations that money was used to influence votes at the ANC’s 2022 Nasrec conference. The Gauteng High Court this week reserved judgment in that matter. DM