ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has rubbished claims that President Jacob Zuma grilled the party's top leadership during the national working committee (NWC) meeting on Tuesday over his cabinet reshuffle.
This follows reports that Zuma had called on Mantashe‚ deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize to issue an apology for publicly disagreeing with his decision to reshuffle his cabinet.

"The length of the meeting collapses rapidly the rumour that we were put in this meeting and President Zuma just lectured us and we all cowed down and apologised‚" Mantashe said at a media briefing after the meeting.

Mantashe's remarks come amid divisions in the ruling party.

The meeting with the party’s top brass started on Monday morning and went through till late Tuesday evening.

It was the first time the ruling party's leaders gathered since the president's controversial cabinet reshuffle last week‚ angering some of his colleagues in the top six.