Embattled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema thought the ANC was "weak" and he could do whatever he "wants to do", President Jacob Zuma told a newspaper.
Zuma told The Star Malema was "immature", and warned senior African National Congress leaders who "cross the line" by defending Malema.
"I don't think he was in a position to understand how the ANC was acting, I think his understanding was that the organisation is weak, you can do whatever you want to do," Zuma was quoted as saying.
"I think that's why the ANC can no longer do what it did at the beginning because it needs to act, and act resolutely," he said, referring to the party's failure to enforce its previous sanctions, such as taking Malema for anger management classes.
Malema, league spokesman Floyd Shivambu, and four other ANCYL officials were found guilty in November last year of bringing the ANC into disrepute and of sowing division within the party.
On February 4 the ANC's national disciplinary committee of appeals announced their attempts to have their guilty verdicts overturned had been dismissed. Arguments in mitigation of their sentences were expected to start on Monday.
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