ANC president Jacob Zuma says he appreciates the "dignified manner" in which his party's former communications head, Smuts Ngonyama, announced his resignation.
"However, we disagree fiercely with his decision and reasons for leaving the movement," he said in his weekly newsletter, published on the ANC Today website on Friday.

Zuma said Ngonyama knew very well "that problems and concerns are raised and resolved internally within the movement".

The African National Congress appreciated Ngonyama's contribution over the past three decades, as well as his support for the presidency over the past few years, Zuma said.

Ngonyama announced his resignation on Thursday. He told a press conference in Johannesburg at the time, he was
leaving because he could no longer tolerate or embrace the "general disrespect of offices of authority" in the ANC, which he termedoffensive.

He would be joining the Congress of the People (Cope) -- the breakaway party formed by former defence minister Terror Lekota over what it says is the ANC's departure from the tenets of the FreedomCharter.