"I decided that I'm not going to be one of those sitting outside the tent, or kraal in this case, with the likes of Afriforum and others. I want to be in the tent to witness all the action," the self-appointed political critic said.

"There are excellent people in the ANC. I have grown to love many of them. But then there are also the others; the ANC heavyweights -- and that is an understatement-- who are constantly on the front pages of newspapers and in the headlines."

In a symbolic movement mirroring the defacing of "The Spear", a painting of President Jacob Zuma with his genitals on display, Bezuidenhout took a jar of red paint and brushed an 'X' over the face of Uys, her alter ego.

She said her move to join the ANC on April 1 shocked many people. She had since got a job in the kitchen at Luthuli House, the party's Johannesburg headquarters.

According to the newspaper, the uproar over the Zuma painting baffled her. When she looked at it, all she saw "was a koeksister [twisted doughnut] and two mosbolletjies [buns]".