Lulama Ngcukayitobi, secretary of the ANC in the Eastern Cape, has threatened legal action against ANC secretary‑general Fikile Mbalula, saying statements attributed to Mbalula and set out in a report about the ANC’s candidate‑list failures amount to defamation.
Demand for retraction and tight deadline
Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers, Mabuza Attorneys, have written to Mbalula demanding “a full and unconditional and mutually agreed retraction” of what they call “falsehoods” about the provincial secretary. The letter gives Mbalula until 12:00 on Tuesday, 22 September to retract the statements, warning that failure to do so may result in court proceedings.
“Our client has instructed us that you have caused the publication of false and defamatory statements which impugn his integrity, standing and reputation.”
What Mbalula reportedly told ANC leadership
The dispute follows reporting that Mbalula prepared a document for ANC leaders, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, attributing the Eastern Cape’s candidate‑list problems to provincial leadership and specifically to Ngcukayitobi. According to that account, the province’s final candidate list reached the ANC’s operations centre at 16:31 on 28 August—just 29 minutes before the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) 17:00 deadline.
Mbalula’s reported conclusion is that the narrow window left the ANC data centre insufficient time to process the file, reconcile it with existing records, capture required changes and submit the municipal lists to the IEC.
Data timestamps at the centre of the dispute
The report cited by national media contrasts the 16:31 submission time with a worksheet timestamp in the provincial workbook that recorded its last save at 14:31 on 28 August—two hours before the file reached the ANC data centre and two hours 29 minutes before the IEC deadline. It also notes that 35 identity‑number corrections had already consumed more than four hours.
| Event | Reported time/date |
|---|---|
| Last save in provincial workbook | 14:31, 28 August |
| File received at ANC operations centre | 16:31, 28 August |
| IEC submission deadline | 17:00, 28 August |
Province rejects blame
Ngcukayitobi’s lawyers reject the account attributed to Mbalula and say the allegations are intended to shift responsibility for what they call a broader candidate‑list crisis. The legal letter, dated 17 September, says statements attributed to Mbalula were published between 13 and 14 September and widely reported in South African media.
According to the letter, the report falsely claims the provincial secretary is responsible for the ANC’s failure to submit all candidate lists ahead of the local government election deadline.
Political implications and context
The public clash pits a provincial secretary against a national secretary‑general and highlights tensions within the ANC as the party grapples with the operational failures that led to disqualified candidates and public embarrassment. The episode also raises questions about internal processes for preparing and validating lists and the chain of custody for candidate data ahead of statutory deadlines.
- Legal timeline: Mbalula has until 12:00 on 22 September to retract the statements or face possible defamation proceedings.
- Technical points in dispute: workbook last‑save timestamp (14:31), file arrival at operations centre (16:31), IEC deadline (17:00), and time spent correcting 35 identity numbers.
- Wider fallout: the incident is part of the ANC’s broader candidate‑list debacle that affected multiple provinces and left the party under scrutiny ahead of local elections.
The matter is likely to remain a point of contention inside the ANC while legal advisers consider whether the dispute will progress to litigation. For residents and local activists in the Eastern Cape, the outcome will matter for how the party conducts candidate vetting and administrative work in the run‑up to elections.
Reporting to date rests on a document reportedly prepared by Mbalula and media accounts of that document; Ngcukayitobi’s formal response has been channelled through his attorneys. There has been no public record in these reports of any retraction from Mbalula at the time of publication.
— Eastern Cape correspondent
