The ANC's court attempt to compel the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to accept nomination forms for its candidates in the local government by-elections, is expected to be heard in the Electoral Court in Durban this Saturday.

The matter was initially set to be heard in the Cape High Court on Thursday, but was removed from the roll and referred to the Electoral Court, which will sit in the Durban High Court.

The ANC filed the application last Friday after it submitted candidates' nomination forms minutes after the 5pm cut-off time the previous day.

Commission officials refused to accept the nomination forms, prompting the party to go to court to have the refusal reviewed and set aside.

The by-elections are expected to be held next Wednesday to fill vacancies throughout the province, with most in the city.

According to the court papers, provincial secretary Sipho Kroma said the nomination forms had to be accompanied by a bank-guaranteed cheque for the prescribed amount, a certified copy of the candidate's ID, written authorisation of the nomination and the candidate's acceptance of the nomination.

He said there were eight ANC candidates in the city and that a bookkeeper employed at the ANC provincial office in Cape Town contacted the Athlone branch of FNB at 2pm on November 27 to arrange bank-guaranteed cheques for the candidates who were to contest the by-elections.

The bookkeeper also decided to requisition bank guaranteed cheques from the Cape Town branch as a precautionary measure.

But there were administrative delays at both banks and the cheques were eventually issued in Cape Town at 4.10pm.

The eight nomination forms were delivered to the IEC offices in Bellville at 4.30pm and commission officials were informed that the cheques were on the way. The cheques arrived at 5.10pm.

But the officials declined to accept the nomination forms because the cut-off time was 5pm.

Kroma said nomination forms for the Cederberg by-election were not accepted because they were not accompanied by copies of the candidates' IDs.

According to Kroma, the ID copies were not attached to the forms because the candidates were only selected at a late stage due to "political movement and instability as a result of the recent formulation of Cope".

The ANC's West Coast regional secretary arranged for copies of the candidates' IDs to be faxed, but commission officials refused to accept faxed copies.

At that stage, the cut-off time had already passed.

Now the ANC has taken the matter to court in a bid to have the nomination forms accepted.