EASTERN CAPE – The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape has ordered its regions to review some ward candidate choices.
The order affects cases where the final candidate does not match the result of an earlier community meeting.
The ANC Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary issued the order on 25 August 2026.
The move follows a review by the party’s Extended Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) and Extended Provincial Elections Team.
The two groups looked at the ANC’s plans for the 2026 Local Government Elections.
ANC receives ward appeals
The ANC says several wards have raised concerns about candidate choices.
Some members have also lodged appeals with the party.
According to the ANC, some appeals show a gap between community meeting results and final Branch General Meeting (BGM) results.
In some cases, one candidate won the most votes at a community meeting.
The BGM later chose a different candidate.
The ANC says this has raised concerns about the selection process.
Popular candidates must be considered
The ANC says communities must play a key role in choosing ward candidates.
The party has therefore told its regions to deal with these cases quickly.
The directive says the candidate who gets the most votes at a community meeting must be considered for the ward.
That candidate must also be registered if the review confirms the result.
The ANC says regional structures must fix cases where the most popular candidate was later replaced.
The aim is to make sure that community votes count in the final choice.
Regions must review cases
ANC Regional Secretaries must now check the affected branches.
They must find cases where community results differ from BGM results.
The regions must then report their findings to the Office of the Provincial Secretary.
The ANC set 25 August 2026 as the reporting date.
This shows that the party wants the review to move quickly.
Candidate lists could change
The review could lead to changes in some ANC ward candidate lists.
This could affect wards where members have already raised disputes.
However, the ANC directive does not give a full list of candidates who could be affected.
It is also not yet clear how many candidates could change across the Eastern Cape.
The review puts community votes at the centre of the issue.
It also comes as political parties prepare for the 2026 Local Government Elections.
ECNewsLive will continue to follow the ANC review.
We will report on any confirmed changes to ward candidates in the Eastern Cape.
ECNewsLive — Beyond News.
