The ANC in Ekurhuleni has condemned the forced removal of its caucus leader Mzwandile Masina from council chambers on Thursday.

In videos circulated on social media, Masina, a former mayor in the City of Ekurhuleni, can be seen being dragged out of council chambers by at least security guards clad in uniform while members of the ANC tried in vain to stop this from happening.

In a statement, ANC caucus whip in Ekurhuleni Jongizizwe Dlabathi accused council speaker Raymond Dhlamini of abusing both council standing orders and law enforcement having Masina kicked out of chambers.

The ANC caucus strongly condemns the abuse of both the Council Standing Orders and law enforcement by the Ekurhuleni Speaker of Council, the party said in a statement.

"It was apparent that the questions for written reply had not reached the Speaker for proper Council engagement. When such a procedural matter was interrogated by our ANC caucus party leader, the incompetent speaker chose to suppress the enquiry and clearly ventured into suffocating the ANC caucus.

"Rightfully and as provided for in the Standing Orders, the ANC Caucus called for further recognition in a form of point of order, which was deliberately shun down by the incompetent speaker.

"Instead of being patient, tolerant and engaging, he chose the route of abusing standing orders by calling for privately-hired securities and EMPD Officers to manhandle our ANC caucus party leader," Dlabathi said.

He further said Dhlamini failed to chair the meeting and instead, resorted to "apartheid bullying tactics".

This act will not be left unattended, especially when there was no grave disorder, but simple engagement.

He added the ANC caucus was disgusted by the unlawful conduct of the speaker to instruct EMPD to "manhandle" Masina.

"In the midst of this unfortunate incident, we commend ANC councillors for their resilience and their fighting spirit in defending the rights of elected public representative," he said.

On Thursday, the ANC had issued a release that Masina would issue his own alternative state of the city address. It remains unclear if this was the cause which led to the altercation shared on social media platforms.