Despite seats being advertised from R5,000 to R20,000 the gala dinner was almost cancelled through a lack of interest.

There were many empty seats and few frills at the ANC's Progressive Business Forum (PBF) gala dinner in the Nasrec Centre on Wednesday night, where the Motsepes again emerged as the big spenders.

Businesswoman Bridgette Motsepe forked out to pay the titanium price for six seats at the President's table at the dinner, traditionally held as a fund-raiser ahead of mega-big party gatherings, such as the national policy and elective conferences, and its annual 8 January birthday celebration.

The seats were advertised for R200,000 each, but Motsepe herself didn't take up any of these.

Instead, she doled out one of the seats to advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who traditionally has kept an arms-length relationship with the ANC as his political loyalties historically tended towards the Pan-Africanist Congress, and Duma Boko, also an advocate and head of Botswana's main opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change.

Patrice Motsepe, who has often been the main purchaser of seats on these occasions, wasn't present himself, with some speculating that it could have been due to his commitments as president of the African Football Confederation.

Those...