The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says it cannot take action against President Jacob Zuma's son Edward for heckling former finance minister Pravin Gordhan at a recent event, because it did not see the incident.
Business Day reported that the party wanted a full report on the incident before deciding whether or not to take action. This is despite the fact that the incident was recorded on video and has done the rounds extensively on social media.
Gordhan was giving an address during the Ghandi memorial lecture in Pietermaritzburg when Zuma and supporters entered the venue with placards.
"Pravin you are lying you are telling people lies, you sold the country to the white man in Stellenbosch... I have always told you, you are a sell out...," Zuma shouted.
Last month, Zuma had to apologise for calling Gordhan and former tourism minister Derek Hanekom "sellouts" who were protecting white monopoly capital.
Zuma called the South African Human Rights commission, investigating his comments, a "vile dog".
This week, Mdumiseni Ntuli, ANC spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal told Business Day the party could not take action until it had been fully briefed about the most recent incident.
"We did not see this incident. I have spoken to the provincial secretary [Super Zuma] and he said he had also heard about [the incident] and is waiting for a full report on it. After we get a report we will then comment and decide whether follow-up action is necessary," he said.
"Generally, we don't encourage ANC members to heckle other members of society in public platforms. It becomes even worse when ANC members are heckling ANC leaders as this creates an image of an organisation at war with itself."