If there is one thing that Cyril Ramaphosa must regret more than anything, it is the decision not to challenge the outcome of the election for the position of secretary general at the ANC's Nasrec conference in 2017.

Of course in hindsight we are all geniuses, and at the time he most probably thought that he could manage Ace Magashule. More importantly, he (correctly) felt that a recount of the vote would involve significant political risk.

Shortly after the result was announced at Nasrec, Supra Mahumapelo, who was a key player in the Zuma faction, walked into a room where I was sitting with some journalists. He made it very clear that should the Ramaphosa faction continue to question the Magashule result, they (the Zuma faction) would disrupt the conference and insist on a re-vote of all the positions. "We would also demand that those 220 delegates who were disqualified would be allowed back, then let's see who wins the president's position," he said...