Johannesburg - The ANC, reeling from the fallout from spy allegations, has closed ranks against Justice Minister Penuell Maduna and appears to have hardened its stance towards Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka.

And the ruling party has moved to isolate former transport minister Mac Maharaj and his close associate Mo Shaik, who publicly charged that Ngcuka had been investigated by the ANC for being an apartheid spy.

At the same time, the ANC has raised serious questions about Ngcuka's deliberate decision to say there was prima facie evidence against Deputy President Jacob Zuma, but not to give Zuma a chance to defend himself in court.

Following the party's extraordinary public rebuke of Maduna earlier this week, ANC Secretary-General Kgalema Motlanthe suggested in an interview with the Cape Times that Maduna was taking strain while the party stood united, and implied that the justice minister was lying.

Responding to Maduna's blunt statement that "the ANC is hurting badly" in the wake of the spy allegations, Motlanthe said: "He is a member of the ANC. If he is hurting then obviously the ANC is hurting ... that's something no-one can refute.

"But there's certainly no division in the ANC."

Motlanthe also contested Maduna's assertion that he had informed President Thabo Mbeki about his decision to quit after next year's election.

Motlanthe said Mbeki had been part of an ANC National Working Committee (NWC) decision to issue an extraordinary public rebuke of Maduna - one of the party's most senior members.

Asked whether Maduna's statement that he had already informed Mbeki did not mean that the ANC had also been notified, since Mbeki was president of the organisation, Motlanthe said: "No, the ANC was not informed.

"The president was in the meeting of the NWC that took those decisions (to rebuke Maduna)."

In a telephonic interview later, Motlanthe said he did not know whether Maduna had actually informed Mbeki.

"He claims he informed the president. Had he informed the president, no doubt the president would have said so in the NWC - the NWC had to read of his decision from the newspaper."

On how the ANC was handling the fallout of the spy saga, Motlanthe said the claims were made by only two individuals when the ANC had entered into a pact with the National Party, its arch enemy during apartheid.

The spy allegations were "based on Minister Maharaj and Mo Shaik saying things", said Motlanthe.

"I'm not aware of any other person who has said anything on this matter - that's why the NWC took the view that there is absolutely no division in the ANC."

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Michaels and the Cape Times.