The ANC has called former president Nelson Mandela's assistant Zelda La Grange a "spoilt white person", according to a report.

"She preaches non-racialism to protect white people. Now she's sowing racial division," said ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe in a Beeld newspaper report translated by Sapa.

"Non-racialism is about the total destruction of white domination. So we're fighting against the system and not against white people," he reportedly said.

La Grange sparked a debate on Twitter on Saturday after saying she felt white people were not welcome in South Africa.

"If I was a white investor I would more or less leave now. It's very clear from Jacob Zuma whites are not wanted or needed in South Africa," she tweeted.

"I'm SICK of Jacob Zuma's constant go at whites every few months. Why can't we co-exist without it having to be at the expense of one another".

Her tweets were in reaction to Zuma's recent comments that the country's problems began with Jan van Riebeeck, a Dutch administrator who set up a refreshment station in the Cape in 1652.

Mantashe said it was a fact that South Africa was colonised by white people.

"They didn't come here and find the country empty. Racial division is rearing its head again because spoilt white people are driving it."

Apology

La Grange had since apologised for her tweets.

"I apologise unconditionally and without reservation to all South Africans who were offended by my tweets this morning," she said in a statement.

"There is no "but" when hurting people who have nothing to do with your frustration. I am sorry," said La Grange who had also reverted to her Twitter name "Zelda" after using "Zelda van Riebeeck" during her Twitter outburst.

She said she had been out of the country for a week and tried to catch up on the news overnight.

"The three main stories in the week's news from South Africa referred to whites, colonialism and/or apartheid [president Jacob Zuma saying all the country's problems started when Jan van Riebeeck arrived in 1652; Zuma calling journalist Max du Preez a racist and the ANC opposing a street in Cape Town being named after former president FW de Klerk]," she said.

She said she then saw on the television screen in the airplane a headline - the only item that referred to South Africa: "South Africa in worst debt of 20 years: Rand softens".

"No article. Just a headline and I got angry. In an attempt to express my disdain at events, I failed to provide context and it appeared that I was generalising," she said.

"My example of white people calling me a "white whore" was interpreted as me saying I have black friends and I defend black people all the time, therefore I am exempt from a lashing when I step out of line. That is simply not the case."

Overreaction: FF+

The ANC has over-reacted to former president Nelson Mandela's assistant Zelda La Grange's comments on Twitter, the Freedom Front Plus said.

"The ANC's absolute over-reaction to that which Zelda La Grange had said on Twitter about President Jacob Zuma is indicative of a party which is out of touch with the people of South Africa and the future which they want," FF Plus MP Anton Alberts said in a statement.

"[ANC secretary general] Gwede Mantashe's obsession to get rid of white domination is an absolute misnomer as whites have for a long time not been governing and the ANC is in control of what the future would look like."

Alberts said the debate in this country should be about power-sharing and economic empowerment rather than race.

"If we are not going to succeed in doing that, the future will unfortunately be one of increasing division."