Although Mbete has previously commented on judicial "overreach", this is the first time she has directly accused "some judges" of being prejudiced against the ANC.

Mbete said she had raised similar concerns during a meeting attended by her National Council of Provinces counterpart Thandi Modise, President Jacob Zuma and Mogoeng in Cape Town at the end of 2015. The four met as leaders of the three arms of the state - parliament, the judiciary and executive.

She said "one grave matter of concern" she spoke about at the meeting was that there were "signs that there are [judges] who are so politicised in the way they do their work".

"When there is a case that affects someone from the ANC, those cases would find their way [into the courts] and if they end up in the hands of certain specific judges, forget it, you are going to lose that case. It has nothing to do with merit, correctness or wrongness. Some names pop up in the head already," she said without naming the judges or the cases concerned.