Does Ace Magashule hold all the cards or is he bluffing?

When he became secretary-general of the ANC after a bruising factional battle to elect the party’s leadership in 2017, political analysts predicted that President Cyril Ramaphosa was going to have a hard time making good on many of his campaign promises.

Secretary-general Ace Magashule carried a lot of clout within the ANC and his alliance with former president Jacob Zuma made him a direct opponent to the ruling party’s new president. 

For some three years the two men have gone up against each other in battles big and small.