A confident majority of the 1,607 delegates to the ANC's elective conference in KwaZulu-Natal expressed their support for former president Jacob Zuma when they voted in former provincial youth league president Siboniso Duma as the province's chair this weekend, sweeping aside pro-Ramaphosa candidate Sihle Zikalala.

So the much-anticipated ANC elective conference in KwaZulu-Natal has come and gone.

In its wake are drama, bruised egos, triumphalism, cautious confidence, many careers in the balance and expectations from the youthful 'Taliban' faction leadership that emerged victorious and is now fully in charge of the party in the province.

The start of the conference was delayed for hours. The delay was laid largely at the door of eThekwini ANC regional delegates, who were not registering as the region was still involved in last-minute caucusing to decide which side it would favour between the powerful 'Taliban' faction, which is behind the youthful Siboniso Duma, or the Ankole faction, which supports KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala. (The name is a reference to President Cyril Ramaphosa's prized Ankole cattle.)

The eThekwini region had 400 of the 1,607 voting delegates at the conference. In the end, it decided to mandate its delegates to throw their weight behind the 'Taliban'....