ANC to finalise councillor candidates for local elections

The top brass of the African National Congress (ANC) is locked in a Special National Executive Committee meeting to ratify and adopt the final list of their councillor candidates before submitting it to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

All parties have until the end of business on Friday to submit their lists for the November polls.

ANC Spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu says their contingent of over 10,000 councillor candidates has factored in the gender parity principle.

“As it stands, we have 4,488 ward councillor candidates, and I can also confirm that we have a total of 6,000 PR councillor candidates who are going to be fielded. If you look at those figures, it will indeed show that we are running a wall-to-wall campaign. The list is balanced in terms of gender representation to ensure both meaningful, substantive and descriptive representation of women in the ANC list, making sure that there is substantive representation of young people on the list.”

VIDEO | ANC explains the criteria used for candidates on the list:

The NEC is ensuring balanced and representative candidate lists, with a clear focus on gender parity and meaningful youth representation.#VoteANC2026 pic.twitter.com/hdq0s0lvkP

— ANC – African National Congress (@MYANC) August 27, 2026