By Carien Du Plessis
The ANC'S national chairwoman, Baleka Mbete, has opted for a golden handshake and a guaranteed inflation-linked pension of R1.8 million a year - for the rest of her life.
The alternative for the woman who until now was deputy president of the country was a demotion to an ordinary cabinet minister in Jacob Zuma's dream team, with the loss of a series of taxpayer-funded perks until the day she dies - or ever returns to public office.
This was the upshot of the last dramatic few days, which threatened to overshadow Zuma's inauguration, held on the grounds of the Union Buildings in Pretoria today.
Mbete had hoped to remain deputy president, but overplayed her hand by refusing to be sworn in as an MP until she was guaranteed a job with her current pay, perks and privileges.
Zuma and the ANC's top officials would have none of it and instead opted for caretaker president Kgalema Motlanthe, who is expected to be announced as his number two tomorrow, along with the rest of his cabinet.
As a former deputy president, Mbete is entitled to her R1.8 million pension for life and other perks such as bodyguards, an official car and staff at taxpayers' expense.
Mbete is set to be deployed to the ANC's Luthuli House headquarters on a full-time basis, although the party has yet to spell out what this would entail.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Friday Mbete was considered to have the right skills for the job, although he refused to be drawn on what these were.
With a full-time secretary-general, deputy secretary-general, treasurer-general and now national chairperson - coupled with this week's deployment of former social development minister Dr Zola Skweyiya to the ANC presidency - Luthuli House is expected to be very crowded indeed.
Mbete's conduct at Wednesday's first sitting of the newly convened National Assembly confounded many senior party leaders and even her advisers and allies.
In the eyes of many Zuma loyalists she had acted unpardonably and embarrassed Zuma by spoiling his election as president of the country.
They insisted she was not fit to be deputy president, favouring the more measured Motlanthe.
Her detractors point out that Mbete was never Zuma's first choice for the party's national chairperson ahead of Polokwane either, getting it by default after Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma backed former president Thabo Mbeki.
They wanted Mbete put firmly in her place, in much the same way that party leaders dismissed one-time rising star Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, whose political ambitions were also dashed earlier in the week when she was offered the position of caucus chair instead of the Speaker post she was eyeing.
Well-placed sources said Mbete believed she was holding the trump card in her negotiations with the party, given that Motlanthe had not wanted the deputy presidency and hoped to be deployed to Luthuli House instead.
However, he was prevailed upon to remain in the government under Zuma, leaving Mbete in the political wilderness.
In terms of status, the only other post equal to deputy president would have been National Assembly Speaker - a post she once held - but this had already been given to ANC veteran Max Sisulu.
Any cabinet position would therefore have been a demotion and would have wiped out her substantial benefits as the country's former number two.
Mbete is believed to have felt that she was the most suited of all ANC officials for the deputy presidency, as the oversight role she had as party chair overlapped with the oversight and evaluation role of South African deputy president.
Moreover, Zuma has even promised to strengthen this monitoring mechanism.
Mbete will be in a prime position to build up a power base in the run-up to the ANC's next elective conference in 2012.
The ANC's constitution accords the party chairperson vast political power, which can be said to be on a par with or even higher than that of the party's president.
Meanwhile, it appears that Zuma is preparing to mend bridges.
Among the heads of state who arrived yesterday to witness Zuma take the oath are Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
And while Sudan's Omar al-Bashir were not due to attend, some of the continent's other alleged rogues were.
These included Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Swaziland's King Mswati III and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.