The Electoral Court should make a ruling on the ANC's by-election candidates challenge by Tuesday at the latest, court chairperson judge Kenneth Mthiyane said on Thursday.

The ANC has asked the court to compel the Independent Electoral Commission to accept the nominations of 12 would-be candidates in the Western Cape.

Their forms were rejected last week when deposits and supporting documents missed the IEC's deadline.

The vacancies were caused by councillors' resignations, mostly from the ANC, to join the newly-formed Congress of the People.

Mthiyane said a three-person court would "hopefully" deal with the application before the by-elections took place on Wednesday 10 December.

"I'm not looking beyond Monday or at latest Tuesday to come up with a decision," he said.

He said the IEC, which is opposing the application, had already filed its heads of argument.

He had asked the court's registrar to set a Friday noon deadline for heads from the ANC and from a number of independent candidates who are also opposing.

The candidates are aligned to Cope, but are not standing under its name because the party has not yet been registered by the IEC.

Mthiyane said once the heads were in, the court would decide how it wanted to deal with the matter.

It appeared however that the application did not differ from matters which in the past which had been decided on papers, without oral argument from counsel, by judges in chambers.

In such a case, the decision would then be communicated to the parties and the media.

He said the three judges could convene physically, or deal with the matter by teleconference.

A total of 27 by-elections have been set for 10 December in the Western Cape.

There will be eight in the Cape Town metro, six in the West Coast municipality, ten in Winelands and three in Overberg.

Sapa