"Shoddy papers" submitted to the Electoral Court for clarity on candidates not on the voters' roll could delay the election timetable, the court's chairperson said on Friday.
Justice Kenneth Mthiyane said the court had not yet come to a decision on whether 110 election candidates whose names were not on the voters' roll, were eligible to stand.
"There is no decision yet... the papers given to us initially were in a shambolic state... the papers are being couriered to me and I have to see whether they are in a proper state," he told Sapa.
Mthiyane received the papers late on Friday.
He said he would only be in the position to say when a decision would be made on Monday or Tuesday next week.
The Electoral Court had until Tuesday, March 31, to decide on the eligibility of the candidates objected to by Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula, who charged that the candidates could not stand as they were not qualified to vote.
Tlakula said: "A person qualified to stand is a person who is qualified to vote and you are not qualified to vote if you are not registered."
Her decision, however, was overturned by IEC commissioners.
The Electoral Act does not stipulate whether or not a candidate should be registered as a voter. The matter was referred to the Electoral Court for clarity.
The 110 are among the 297 candidates, from 28 political parties, to whom Tlakula had objected.
"Lawyers must understand that there is a timetable... if the papers are shoddy, it becomes difficult.
"I can't say how we are going to deal with it until we have seen the papers... we will look at the papers to see what explanation is given," Mthiyane said.
Senior electoral officer, Michael Hendrickse of the commission's legal services, said the lists were finalised on Friday but were subject to change. pending the outcome of the Electoral Court decision.
"The lists are ready but they are subject to the decision of the court."
He conceded that the court highlighted problems with the "paginating and indexing" of the papers, but said the attorneys confirmed that it had been corrected. The lists would be available on the commission's website soon, he said.
According to the election timetable, the Electoral Commission was then expected to compile a final list of candidates on or before Friday, April 3.
Candidates should receive their certificates by April 7.