The African National Congress's (ANC's) top leadership structure was starting its quarterly meeting in Johannesburg on Friday, a day after its Youth League publicly criticised the ruling party.

African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) spokesperson Magdalene Moonsamy said the structures of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) was the ideal platform to raise "concerns".

"We did say that we were going to raise any issues or concerns that we felt were necessary in the structures of the ANC and that would automatically include any meeting of the NEC," Moonsamy told Sapa.

This was in response to a question on whether the youth league was planning to try and get the outcome of the disciplinary hearing against its leader, Julius Malema, overturned.

Moonsamy said that she could not say what "issues" the ANCYL would raise at the ANC NEC meeting.

But after an ANCYL NEC meeting this week, the league's secretary-general Vuyiswa Tulelo, said that "some members of the ANC leadership do not understand the autonomy of the ANC Youth League".

She told reporters on Thursday that the ANCYL had taken issue with the procedure of the disciplinary hearing against Malema, who was ordered to apologise to President Jacob Zuma for criticising him in public and had to attend anger management classes.

"There are procedures. We are of the firm belief that those procedures were not followed," said Tulelo of the disciplinary hearing, where Malema pleaded guilty to one charge while three other charges against him were dropped.

But an ANC NEC member told The Star newspaper anonymously that it would be a mistake for the youth league to raise the matter at the NEC meeting.

"If the [youth league] insists that this should be overturned, most NEC members will not support [Malema] because he admitted that he has undermined Zuma.

"It is the biggest mistake, a political mistake, to be seen as challenging and undermining the president," said the NEC member.

The meeting, which is closed to the media, was set to end on Sunday.