Two former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe are calling for Magashule to step aside...

Former President Thabo Mbeki who usually keeps a low profile at executive meetings made an impassioned plea for the ANC to throw down the gauntlet to Magashule after his former head of government policy Joel Netshitenzhe had delivered a scathing attack on Magashule branding him a counter-revolutionary in an opinion article...

This was the tactic Zuma used when he succeeded in ousting Thabo Mbeki as party leader in 2007 and then as President (AC Vol 49 No 2 The party is not yet split)...

They squabbled over who should pay for the Covax vaccine causing delays that saw South Africa's procurement efforts fail inviting unwelcome comparisons with the HIV/AIDS policy debacle when Thabo Mbeki was president (AC Vol 62 No 3 Shot in the dark)...

Its most recent meeting – attended unusually by former president Thabo Mbeki as well as former president Jacob Zuma who often shows up – declined even to talk about it...

It was the victory of Zuma's supporters at the 2005 NGC against then President Thabo Mbeki that marked the beginning of the end for Mbeki who was then ousted as party leader in December 2007 and obliged to step down as state president in September 2008...

The 18-member council appointed last year includes international experts such as Harvard University's Professor Dani Rodrik University College London's Professor Mariana Mazzucato former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala former governor of the Bank of Tanzania Professor Benno Ndulu former chief economic advisor to former President Thabo Mbeki Professor Alan Hirsch and economist Thabi Leoka...

The next phase of Denel's development according to ex-ANC MP and arms trade expert Andrew Feinstein came under President Thabo Mbeki and his then deputy Jacob Zuma and the notorious $7 billion 'arms deal' when enormous quantities of European military equipment were purchased after the payment of huge bribes (AC Vol 44 No 18 BAE's role in SA's big arms deal & Vol 59 No 7 No farewell to arms deals)...

Ramaphosa will probably be able to explain the matter to the satisfaction of the ANC Integrity Commission many of whose appointees are party members who rose to prominence during Thabo Mbeki's presidency and detest Zuma and his acolytes...