ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile's strategy of playing both factions in the ruling party is about to cost him a seat in the influential ANC top six.
As treasurer-general, acting secretary-general and acting deputy secretary, the man had all the cards to wheel and deal his way into being deputy president of the ANC.
Such a powerful position would put him in the seat to ascend to the top job at the next elective conference in 2027.
But it's all gone horribly wrong for the leader of the so-called Alex Mafia.
Since the 2017 conference in Nasrec, Mashatile has been pretending to be Ramaphosa's pointsman at Luthuli House, resulting in Ramaphosa's support for Mashatile to act as secretary when Ace Magashule was suspended and as deputy secretary when Jessie Duarte died.
This was despite his dismal performance as treasurer. The party failed to raise enough funds to meet its basic obligations and ANC staff went for months without being paid.
When Mashatile and Ramaphosa were allies, the president covered the poor performance at the treasurer's office by paying the ANC salary bill from his own pocket.
Mashatile's political chess game became clear when he supported a new faction called the Taliban in KwaZulu-Natal which pretended to be supporters of former president Jacob Zuma while they were in fact loyal to Mashatile, who at the time appeared invincible.
Hardly a week passes by without this lot visiting Jacob Zuma in Nkandla, and yet they publicly embarrassed him by rejecting his presidential nominee, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The ANC KZN provincial executive committee will now go to the national conference firmly behind a
Mashatile slate that punts disgraced former health minister Zweli Mkhize for the top job and Mashatile for his deputy.
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Mashatile's last dagger in Ramaphosa's back came last week, when he tried to fool the entire ANC national executive committee into holding an illegal meeting with the single agenda of forcing Ramaphosa to step down as head of state and president of the ANC.
The strategy was designed to capitalise on the confusion that followed the flawed and inconclusive report of Parliament's Section 89 Panel on the Phala Phala Farm robbery cover-up which said Ramaphosa may have violated his oath of office and some money-laundering and tax laws.
A perception that Mashatile was still loyal to Ramaphosa saw him leading, with 1,791 branches nominating him for the position of deputy president compared to Ronald Lamola's 427 and Oscar Mabuyane's 397.
The Ramaphosa faction now plans to nominate Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu from the conference floor as its candidate for deputy president.
Having recently secured a second term as Eastern Cape premier, Mabuyane has agreed to make way for a new candidate.
With just a week before the 55th conference, a lot can still change as lobby groups consolidate their slates and try to meet a 50% gender parity count in the formation of the complete 86-member NEC.
