ANC candidate lists leak unfortunate, but not representative of IEC system - Ramaphosa

CAPE TOWN - African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa said the unauthorised leaking of the party's candidate lists for the upcoming elections was unfortunate, however, he remains confident in the Electoral Commission to manage the electoral process.

The list, which includes personal information of the party's national and provincial candidates, started making the rounds on social media on Friday, a short while after the ANC's submission to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

Political parties and independent candidates had until 5 pm on Friday to submit these lists to contest in the upcoming polls.

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Speaking to the media in Ekurhuleni on Saturday, Ramaphosa said the party had been informed about how the list could've been leaked.

"Somehow, somebody at the IEC leaked the list, before they could examine it and before they could invoke their own processes to have the lists publicly available." 

He said this was unfortunate because it risked undermining the work of the Electoral Commission, however, they are still confident in the IEC's processes as elections approach.

"We have been in discussion with them [IEC]. They have informed us that it was just a glitch. It is not representative of the IEC system."

Ramaphosa said they were satisfied with the commission's explanation.