The ANC Women's League has hit back at party stalwarts Barbara Hogan and Cheryl Carolus who said compromise candidates must be removed from ANC election lists.

Ahmed Kathrada's funeral and memorial service two years was a key moment within the ANC in the fight against former president Jacob Zuma's leadership. Former president Kgalema Motlanthe and Pravin Gordhan, who had just been sacked as finance minister, led the charge.

Two years later at Uncle Kathy's remembrance ceremony, the party's Barbara Hogan, who was married to Kathrada, and Cheryl Carolus on Thursday condemned the compromised candidates included on the ANC's list for Parliament after the 8 May elections.

"We must take a clear stand to say that this thing of 'innocent until proven guilty' is nonsense," TimesLive quoted Carolus, chairperson of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation chairperson, warning of "tsotsis who tried to steal the soul of this country".

She said the foundation would work against "smalanyana skeletons and frozen chicken" leaders getting into Parliament, clear references to Women's Minister and ANCWL President Bathabile Dlamini and Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane.

ANCWL Secretary General Meokgo Matuba fired back on Friday, saying "their uncontrollable hatred" was divisive and counter-revolutionary.

"If they were currently participating...