The coalition of the wounded is still gunning for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The day the president announced that he would get rid of looters from the government, those who benefited from the theft of over R1 trillion over the past decade, started gunning for him.
The plotting and anti-Ramaphosa shenanigans dominated the first four years of his presidency culminating with the failed attempt to replace him as ANC president.
His sin? Supporting the work of the state capture commission, beefing up capacity at the National Prosecuting Authority with over 1,000 new prosecutors and adding more investigative capacity in the police.
So what happened to the 40% ANC faction that failed to take over the party at its national elective conference in December?
That campaign, which consisted mainly of those who have been implicated in wrongdoing, sought to derail Ramaphosa's anti corruption programme.
ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe refers to this group as a "coalition of the wounded".
They were the leading voices calling for the scrapping of the step-aside resolution which calls for leaders charged with any crime to step down from their position to protect the image of the party.
The anti-Ramaphosa group remains within the ANC, strategising, changing colours like chameleons and switching sides; all to undermine Ramaphosa.
This was originally Jacob Zuma's group, then it evolved to support the "NDZ campaign" to get Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected. Most recently it supported former health minister Zweli Mkhize's bid for the top job.
Mkhize himself does not subscribe to the objectives of the so-called radical economic transformation (RET) factions.
Now that Mkhize's bid is gone this faction has evolved again - it now identifies ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile as its flag bearer.
Mashatile was not always with this group, but he won his position with its support.
And he will need this block and its numbers if he is to defeat the so-called Ankole faction, as the Ramaphosa grouping is referred to in ANC circles.
The anti-Ramaphosa lobby is convinced it can force him out even before the 2024 national elections.
They have been joined by leftwing populists including Julius Malema's EFF, which attempted to intimidate the Ramaphosa government with its so-called national shutdown on 20 March.
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Also from outside the ANC is the African Transformation Movement led by Vuyolwethu Zungula, a Zuma loyalist who leads the party with the former president's controversial spokesperson Jimmy Manyi.
Zungula is leading the campaign for the impeachment of Ramaphosa for his role in the Phala Phala robbery cover up where some $580,000 was stolen from Ramaphosa's home in 2020.
Manyi is the Gupta puppet who tried to fool the nation by "buying" the media empire of the Gupta brothers but Multichoice removed the propaganda machinery from its DStv bouquet.
They have found a new ally in Zwelinzima Vavi who used to lead the ANC-aligned Cosatu but was booted out. It landed him out in the cold without the state largesse that comes with being part of the ANC, Cosatu and SACP alliance.
Vavi, who joined Malema's protest on Monday, now leads the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu).
Zuma, the original godfather of this grouping, is now using the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) to try and reignite his flagging career.
Sanco is technically still part of the tripartite alliance and as its KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Zuma delays his retirement and political irrelevance.
But whether this ragtag coalition of the wounded can aim accurately at that bullseye on Ramaphosa's back remains a big question. After the flop of this week's shutdown he might feel they are likely to miss.
