ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has tried and failed to persuade Julius Malema's "hate speech" accuser to drop his Equality Court complaint against the ANC Youth League president.
The court is scheduled to hear the complaint on Friday.
Mbuyiselo Botha, head of advocacy for the Sonke Gender Justice NGO, on Monday said Mantashe had asked him if there was "no other way" he could resolve his complaint over Malema's comments that Jacob Zuma's rape accuser had enjoyed herself with him.
Revealing that Mantashe had held a "very cordial meeting" with him and Sonke court director Bafana Khumalo on Monday at the ANC's Luthuli House headquarters, Botha admitted he had felt "a certain amount of pressure" from the senior ANC official.
"When he (Mantashe) called me after lunch on Sunday and asked if we could meet, I was very pleased that a senior ANC member with a high profile was ready and willing to engage with this issue.
"He asked if going to the Equality Court was the only way we would resolve our complaint - why we had not tried to resolve this with the ANC.
"Myself and Mr Khumalo both feel we were correct to go to the Equality Court because of the deafening silence from the ANC on the Malema comments.
"We, as Sonke, would only be prepared to drop the Equality Court hearing if Mr Malema made a full and unreserved public apology for his comments and we communicated that to Mr Mantashe."
Botha said Mantashe had indicated that "he would consult with the ANC collective" on Malema's possible apology and "then get back to us".
Asked to comment, Mantashe said: "It's not appropriate to go public on such an engagement. I met with them in what I thought was a confidential manner."