The ANC has confirmed it has expelled its former secretary-general Ace Magashule.

Magashule is the most senior ANC official to be expelled from the 111-year-old party.

Last week, the ANC national disciplinary committee gave him a week to explain why he should not be expelled from the organisation for trying to suspend President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2021.

Party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the former ANC strongman failed to respond to the disciplinary committee and the seven days lapsed.

Magashule had been found guilty of contravening the party's constitution as he had no legal standing from the national executive committee to suspend Ramaphosa.

At the time of his suspension, Magashule had been implicated in the State Capture Commission for being allegedly involved in corruption stemming from R250 million to replace asbestos roofs in the Free State.

The contract was awarded during Magashule's tenure as premier of that province. The former ANC boss has been charged and his prosecution is ongoing in the Bloemfontein High Court.

Current ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said: "His failure to apologise constitutes misconduct."

The former Free State premier had a fallout with Ramaphosa, who beat Magashule's preferred candidate Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at the ANC elective conference in 2017.

Magashule, a close confidant of former president Jacob Zuma, was seen as leading the anti-Ramaphosa faction, the so-called radical economic transformation group, in the ANC.

He became the most high-profile ANC leader to be removed through the ANC step-aside resolution which forces ANC leaders charged with any crime to leave office.

The controversial resolution has been a key strategy of the Ramaphosa faction to rid the party of leaders implicated in the looting of state companies and exploitation of the government's procurement system.