ANC Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's first Cabinet lekgotla on Tuesday found him sitting within an arm's length of President Thabo Mbeki, effectively entrenching his seniority within government despite being appointed less than a week ago.
Motlanthe was seated just to the left of the head table occupied by Mbeki and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, leapfrogging senior ministers like Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Trevor Manuel, Jeff Radebe and Alec Erwin who sat immediately to his left.
The ANC deputy president was officially welcomed to government at the Cabinet meeting held shortly before the start of the three-day lekgotla in Pretoria on Tuesday.
"He will be minister in the Presidency and leader of government business so he assumed his duties formally today (Tuesday) as a member of cabinet," government spokesperson Themba Maseko said adding that Motlanthe had been "warmly welcomed" by his new peers.
Ironically, Motlanthe - who is seen as ANC president Jacob Zuma's right hand man based on the battle lines created in the run up to the party's Polokwane conference last year - also found himself surrounded by die-hard Mbeki supporters.
Motlanthe was in a similar situation at his swearing in as a "super Cabinet minister" last Friday that was attended by the who's who of Mbeki's Christmas card list.
Someone in the small gathering, which included Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, Public Services Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, his brother, Minister in the Presidency, Essop, as well as Presidency Director-General Frank Chikane, was heard to whisper "and so the deed is done" as Motlanthe accepted his post.
Meanwhile, Maseko explained on Tuesday that Mbeki, his ministers and representatives from local government would spend the next few days reviewing the medium term strategic framework and discussing ways to speed up delivery.
"There is going to be a lot of reprioritising," Maseko said.
The meeting discussed the tough global economic conditions and the effects they were having on the cost of living in South Africa.
The social cluster of ministers and a specially appointed task team will be reporting back to the lekgotla on how the government should tackle the high food prices.
This meeting is understood to be the penultimate lekgotla under Mbeki's leadership with the last expected to take place in January next year, only months before the polls for which a date still needs to be set.
"As we head closer to the end of term of this government, the primary focus will be on what government needs to do between now and the end of the term to accelerate the implementation of the government programme of action," Maseko said.
He said Mbeki would also be briefing the lekgotla on developments in Zimbabwe.
The President has won praise in recent days for the successful role he played as mediator in discussions, which eventually led to Monday's breakthrough where political parties in Zimbabwe agreed to talks.