ANC Member of Parliament Makhosi Khoza told HuffPost SA on Friday the ruling party's KwaZulu-Natal branch would be charging her because they want to ensure President Jacob Zuma survives the August 8 secret ballot vote in Parliament.
"They are doing this obviously to silence me. It's directly related to the August 8 vote," she said. "They are trying to control the outcome of August 8."
Khoza alleged other MPs have also been intimidated to get them to vote a certain way.
"There's been a lot of intimidation of MPs and I think the reason why I'm being charged is because they are trying to intimidate all other ANC MPs so they don't vote against [Zuma] in the vote of no confidence," she said.
"This is not just about Makhosi Khoza, it's about all MPs, how they should be voting. They want to make an example," she said.
ANC KZN spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli confirmed to HuffPost SA on Friday Khoza would be served with charges "over the next few days" -- but what the exact charges will be has not yet been determined.
No confidence vote
Khoza has been dragged over the coals from within the ANC for supporting a secret ballot in the vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma. She has also spoken out on issues of corruption and has numerously called on the president to step down.
Death threats have also been leveled against both Khoza and members of her family.
Khoza said she didn't know the party's KZN provincial executive committee has decided to charge her already.
"That's fine," she said, but maintained she didn't know if the branch still had legitimacy.
The ANC's leadership in KZN has been taken on in court by a group of party rebels who want the results of the November 2015 provincial elective conference declared null and void.
The hotly-contested conference saw Sihle Zikalala defeat Senzo Mchunu to become the province's chairman. Citing procedural flaws‚ the group believe that none of the leaders -- including secretary Super Zuma and chairman Sihle Zikalala -- were legitimately elected.
The MP said she didn't know what the charges against her might look like.
"I honestly don't know what they are going to be saying because I'm also a Member of Parliament," she explained.
"If I speak in my capacity of Member of Parliament and not representing the ANC, how do they charge me as a Member of Parliament speaking on matters affecting the country as a public representative?"
Khoza said she hasn't spoken out against the party, as such, but spoke directly about issues facing the country.
"I didn't go there and say, 'The ANC says this'. I'm speaking in my capacity as a Member of Parliament. So I don't know how they charge me a as a Member of Parliament who has taken the oath to uphold the Constitution of the Republic," she said."That structure that is going to charge me is still going into court because it's being disputed. I don't know which leg they are standing on," she said.
'Bringing party into disrepute'
Meanwihle, Ntuli said: "The decision of the Provincial Executive Committee is that the conduct she (Khoza) has been displaying is opposed to the National Policy Conference and the consultative meeting of the ANC. It is not consistent with what was agreed upon.
"It is bringing the party into disrepute. As to how those charges are going to be framed in the context of the ANC constitution, that is a matter that is on the table of the judicial committee of the ANC."
He said if the ANC does not deal with Khoza now, it may encourage others to "behave like her".
"The decision of the Provincial Working Committee is that the officials should act on this matter with immediate effect, and in fact, the PWC was saying that within the next 10 – 14 days, this matter should have been acted upon," Ntuli said.
"If we do not act immediately, the statement we have issued would be like a threat. [Khoza's] level of impunity is beyond what we can tolerate and if we don't deal with it now, you are most likely to encourage other people who are going to behave like her and we will soon have no political organisation."
Partly a 'gender' issue
Khoza was clear she also felt her gender was part of the reason why she, and no one else like former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and "even the deputy president" hasn't been targeted.
"Consistently on the application of justice, principle has got to apply," she said. "I'm not the only person from the ANC who has spoken out. Why are they singling me out?"
"In the ANC, the tendency is that women will always take a back seat. And I think all the [other] people who have spoken out against this man [Zuma] are men.
"They are going to victimise me simply because I'm a woman. That is something I hope that women folk will have to defend. We can't have an application of justice for women, and one for men."