Duarte has told Eyewitness News that while it had taken some time for the issue to be dealt with, it was now ready to be ventilated.

The ANC has been in a protracted battle over this matter, with its secretary-general Ace Magashule being called to step aside after he was charged with corruption.

The City Press newspaper reported over the weekend that elders, including former President Kgalema Motlanthe and former ANC treasurer-general Matthews Phosa, were roped in to assist its officials in this regard.

Duarte said that the latest approach to the step aside resolution was sober and had more gravitas.

This as elders have now replaced the legal opinions previously sought to help draft guidelines to be considered when asking members to step aside.

Duarte said that this was a very competent team led by treasurer-general Paul Mashatile.

"It's not the lawyers, it's ANC cadres who are involved in this matter and it's people with real, long years of experience in the ANC."

She said that the complex issue had garnered a lot of opinions from party members, stressing the difficulty of taking different perspectives into consideration.

"Then there is also the question around people's rights in the Constitution. Then there are real issues that have happened, when people have been accused, stepped aside..."

The ANC’s national executive committee will deal with this matter between the 12th and 14th of next month.

EWN