In a taped phone conversation, a person, who is reportedly South Africa's Deputy Education Minister Mduduzi Manana, admits to beating up a woman at a club after she called him gay, local media say.

Reports add that the two were involved in a row over who should succeed President Jacob Zuma as leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) at the party's elective conference in December.

The confession was part of a recording of a subsequent conversation between a person believed to be Mr. Manana and Phesheya Duma, the brother of Mandisa Duma, the alleged victim, TimesLive reports.

The victim tweeted:

Mr Manana has not yet commented. But on the tape, the voice can be heard denying that he followed the victims out to the car park to continue the violence. He said that other people did that.

A post on Twitter shows the injuries that Ms. Duma allegedly sustained during Saturday night's altercation at the club in Fourways, near the main city Johannesburg.

A police ministry spokesman said a case of assault has been opened at a local police station.

Here is a video of the minister beating up the lady: