The ANC has dismissed shocking claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa collaborated with apartheid authorities in the early 1970s.
The allegations against Ramaphosa, made by COPE leader and former ANC national chair Mosiuoa Lekota in parliament on Wednesday, were on Thursday described by the ANC as "baseless".
"We reject these insinuations with the contempt they deserve. The ANC has full confidence in President Ramaphosa, and we do not take kindly to desperate attempts to call into question his integrity. Allegations of this nature are often made when the accuser fears exposure for his own misdeeds or runs out of political ideas," acting national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said.
Lekota claimed that Ramaphosa "condemned" him and other student activists to the apartheid special branch in 1974, when Ramaphosa told the apartheid regime in a letter that they had "put communist ideas in his head".
Kodwa said the ANC and its alliance partners were inspired by Ramaphosa's leadership and said the president had "earned his stripes as a leader of our glorious movement".
He implied that Lekota's attack on Ramaphosa's character was an election gimmick.
"Those who have nothing to offer to the people of SA will always find a way to throw stones and make attempts at denigrating his strong character," Kodwa explained.
The ANC in turn accused Lekota of "betraying an organisation that shaped his politics and career" for his utterances against Ramaphosa.
"Some of these people, who were trusted comrades and rose to the highest ranks of the ANC, have never hesitated to betray this legacy and trust when it suited their personal ambitions.
"Terror Lekota is one of those who had no qualms in betraying an organisation that shaped his politics and career over many decades for expediency," Kodwa added.