Night fell as a nation held its breath. As cleaners moved around the Union Buildings, which was falling into shadow, the sitting president, Thabo Mbeki, was in his office taking legal advice.
He had expected to be fired by the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) that day, exactly a week after a damning verdict by Judge Chris Nicholson in the Pietermaritzburg High Court had implied he had interfered in the prosecution of ANC president Jacob Zuma. But still, there was an official silence from the committee.
Once he'd locked up, he went home where he sat down with his deputy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. He tried to persuade her to stay on but, within hours, she had made her choice and told him she would leave.
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Meeting at Esselen Park in Kempton Park, the NEC had argued all day.
To the nation, it might have seemed as if Mbeki had won an 11th-hour reprieve that Friday night, with no official word yet from the NEC. But few insiders took that opinion seriously. Mbeki's legal adviser Advocate Mojanku Gumbi was in close contact. There was talk of bringing an interdict against the NEC.
By the time the 89-strong committee had filed into their places for what would undoubtedly be their most important meeting since Morogoro in 1969 and then Kabwe in 1985, a number of positions had been ready to be presented. Although it was generally felt that the committee had quickly reached consensus that Mbeki must step down, the more difficult - and, for some, painful - debate, continued as delegates went home that night for a brief rest before the final deliberations of Saturday.
The biggest question now was: how should Mbeki be allowed to go? It was no minor affair to have to be party to a choice that affected not only one of the ANC's great families and most respected sons, but also the country.
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