The ANC is facing a major internal headache after one of its members accused the party of reneging on an out-of-court settlement it reached with her over a deployment dispute.

Limpopo ANC branch member Ponani Makhubele is accusing the ANC of cocking a snook at the outcome of a deal endorsed by the courts to deploy her to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

Makhubele and the governing party reached a deal on May 22, which was then made a court order, to send her to Cape Town.

However, a day later, the ANC filed a notice to appeal the order in the Joburg high court.

In the appeal notice filed by Vally Chagan and Associates, the ANC accused the high court judge of having erred by rubber-stamping the deal.

"The honourable judge erred in granting an order in favour of the applicant, the effect of which is that the applicant would become the permanent delegate of the ANC from Limpopo province in the NCOP, without the applicant having joined the four delegates from. the province who had been deployed by the ANC in Limpopo to the NCOP," the party argued.

"It was not competent nor was it appropriate for the court to grant the order," it said.

"The no-joinder of the permanent delegates of the ANC Limpopo province to the NCOP is material and fatal to the applicant's application.

"Accordingly, the applicant's application was fundamentally defective without the joinder of the four permanent delegates of the ANC Limpopo province to the NCOP. The court ought to have dismissed the application on grounds of material nonjoinder."

The war between Makhubele and the ANC began in April when Makhubele filed an urgent court application to challenge the ANC in Limpopo's regional to national list of candidates to parliament.

In her founding affidavit, Makhubele argued that she was nominated unopposed and was surprised to find her name had been removed from the final list.

"I don't understand why would the ANC want to go back on its word now and try to fight the settlement agreement we had," she said.

Makhubele said after their agreement in May, the ANC requested a meeting with her and her lawyers on June 10 and 17, but they never honoured the appointments.

She said the last meeting the ANC requested was supposed to take place on Wednesday but never happened.

"I drove all the way from Giyani to Joburg for a meeting that never happened. I don't even have a source of income yet the ANC is expecting me to be in Joburg for a meeting they fail to honour. I am being taken back and forth and it is unacceptable."

However, the ANC's lawyer, Ajay Chagan, sang a different tune, saying that after they filed the leave to appeal, a court date was set.

"The judge set 23 July for a hearing of the application," he said. "I am not certain whether the matter will continue in court because the ANC is trying to negotiate with Makhubele to find ways to resolve the matter."

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe had not responded to questions by the time of going to print.