The African National Congress (ANC) has rejected allegations that Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa interfered in the running of the nomination conference in the North West.

"The ANC is outraged by the claim..." spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said on Wednesday.

The Star newspaper reported that Mthethwa had hijacked the North West conference and replaced Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's supporters with bogus delegates.

It also reported that he ordered police to shoot rubber bullets at anti-Jacob Zuma delegates.

North West police have confirmed that stun grenades were used to disperse a group of people who tried to gain entry to the conference, but could not say whether they were Motlanthe supporters.

Mthethwa's spokesperson Zweli Mnisi, said the allegation that he ordered police to shoot rubber bullets was false.

"In his capacity as the minister of police, he does not give operational instruction[s] to police on when, where, and to whom must they mount such [an] operation."

Mthembu said the provincial nomination conference was convened and run by the provincial leadership of the North West.

"To the best of the information submitted to the national office of the ANC by all concerned and legitimate parties, the delegations to the provincial nomination conference was officiated and approved by the provincial leadership," he said.

The conference in Rustenburg on Sunday took place after an attempt to convene parallel nomination conferences failed.

Mthembu said before the start of the conference that provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge signed off the credentials as authentic.

ANC Youth League chairperson in North West Papiki Baboile, has insisted that the votes were rigged.

"The majority of delegates, 80% of them, were not elected by branches. Some of us were denied access," he said.

The audit reports had many mistakes; for instance, some branches had increased membership without explanation. Some branches failed their audits because membership forms were missing, but others in the same position passed.

While the conference was underway, the regional and provincial secretaries were asked to resolve the apparent discrepancies, said Baboile.

Together with Mthethwa, the regional secretaries drew up a list of delegates they deemed fit to vote.

"We asked the leadership to resolve this.

"Regional secretaries, with the guidance of Nathi Mthethwa, developed a list of delegates instead of resolving the problem. People were hand-picked to vote," he said.

The North West ANC nominated Zuma for re-election as party leader at the Mangaung conference.

Their results came in on Monday morning – three days after the deadline for nominations closed.

Zuma received 162 votes for the top job, while his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe received 14.