Former North West African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Supra Mahumapelo has joined the legal battle to have a decision by the national executive council (NEC) to disband his provincial executive committee overturned.

Some branches and regions in the North West have rejected the provincial task team that was put in place last month and have turned to the courts, claiming the decision wasn't "impartial".

Mahumapelo is expected to be represented by advocate Dali Mpofu, SC in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

Other applicants, such as party member Kutlwano Masibi, have hired advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.

In his heads of argument, Mahumapelo supports the relief Masibi and three other applicants are seeking.

He also included a veiled threat to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa's leadership, questioning the status of branches in the North West which meant there could not have been a valid national conference.

Ramaphosa narrowly beat former African Union Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who Mahumapelo supported.

"If the branches have been dysfunctional since 2016, as alleged by the ANC, there could be no valid national conference because such branches should not have passed the audit process," Mahumapelo argued in his court documents.

He defined this as a "self-defeating" argument, which was used to dissolve his PEC.

"The branches about which the ANC complains were fully accredited to attend provincial general councils, branch general meetings and the national elective congress that took place in December 2017," Mahumapelo argued in his court documents.

Mahumapelo also accuses the NEC of breaching the party's constitution and membership audit guidelines.