The ANC’s International Relations Commission head made the announcement at the press briefing today.

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress (ANC) says its National General Council has resolved that South Africa must withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Earlier this year, Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir was allowed to leave the country despite a request from the court that he be arrested.

The North Gauteng High Court had also ruled that al-Bashir be kept in South Africa.

The ANC's International Relations Commission head, Obed Bapela, made the announcement at the press briefing earlier today.

"NGC has just resolved that South Africa should withdraw from the international court. However, only after we have followed certain processes."

But he says they still believe in the principles that guided the decision to join the court in the first place.

"However, the ICC has lost its direction unfortunately and it's no longer pursuing that principle."

Bapela also says the dual citizenship was not discussed.

ANC MEMBERSHIP STILL HIGH

Duarte said the total number of people who belong to the party has actually increased in the last two and a half years.

On Friday, president Zuma said the number of ANC members had declined dramatically and claimed this was because of factionalism and gate-keeping at party branches.

Duarte said the party still has over one million members.

"The total number of members in our database it's 1.3 million, of which we've issued 1.2 million cards to everybody. That means, our membership has in fact, grown since Mangaung."

She said this discrepancy occurred because of the way they manage members before certain events. Duarte also said the debate around the ANC's membership figures has been quite hysterical.

Meanwhile, the ANC's head of campaigning, Nomvula Mokonyane, said retaining control of Gauteng during next year's local government elections depends on the cooperation of senior leaders in the province.

She spoke to Eyewitness News on the sidelines of the council in Midrand on Saturday.

Mokonyane said the ANC is fully aware of what is needed to retain control of Gauteng in next year's elections.

"We must move away from a one-size fits all campaigning, we must have locally-based campaign methods."

She said she's ready to end factionalism in the province.

"We must stop our own fights. We need our diverse strengths. You need Numvula and Paul Mashatile to come together and I want to personify this matter, if anything, people can't say the problems of Gauteng have to do with Nomvula and Paul, because we're not enemies."

Mokonyane also echoed sentiments expressed by Zuma: "If people differ, in terms of an approach, and their differences are not ideological, there is not thing that must deprive the ANC of the double strength that those individuals can bring."