THEY were once seen as a political threat to then president Thabo Mbeki and his associates.

So much so that a conspiracy to discredit them was hatched.

In 2001 Mbeki's safety and security minister, Steve Tshwete, claimed on TV that Mathews Phosa, Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale were plotting to overthrow the president.

The ruling party distanced itself from the claims and expressed its support for the three. But the damage was done. They kept a low political profile and turned to business to make deals.

Just over a decade later the three alleged anti-Mbeki plotters are slugging it out - or are they being forced to do so by ANC members?

Now indications are that Ramaphosa, Sexwale and Phosa will be vying for the position of ANC deputy president at the party's elective conference in Mangaung next month.

Though they have been very successful, especially Ramaphosa and Sexwale, their wealth does not seem to have stoped the political bug that bothers them - and which seems to have just bitten.

After a stint in business Phosa and Sexwale were the first to regain political prominence in the run-up to the Polokwane conference, where Zuma was elected president. They were very critical of Mbeki and openly campaigned for Zuma - especially Phosa.

Under former president Nelson Mandela, Ramaphosa became an MP after the first democratic election in 1994. He chaired the Constitutional Assembly that drafted the Constitution.

Mandela had wanted him to succeed him as ANC president but Mbeki, who was his deputy, was elected instead in 1997. Already, Ramaphosa had resigned from Parliament.

He became a businessman, one of the few first prominent BEE dealers to strike it rich after he saw his presidential chances wane.

Now Ramaphosa finds himself firmly on Zuma's slate for Mangaung. This pits him against not only Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe - his former comrade at the National Union of Mineworkers - who might still get the job should he relinquish his plan to challenge Zuma for the top spot.

Ramaphosa is also up against Sexwale and Phosa, his former alleged "co-conspirators".

Though Ramaphosa has not stated whether he will take up the position, provinces who want Zuma re-elected are nominating him because they're afraid Motlanthe might challenge Zuma.

Phosa and Sexwale are being nominated for the deputy presidency under the Motlanthe slate by a powerful anti-Zuma group.

Sexwale, who became the first Gauteng premier in 1994, resigned from the position and ceased to be actively involved in ANC politics. He quit as chairman of the province in 1998 to become a full-time businessman.

With his Mvelaphanda Group, through which he made deals in mining, banking and the media, Sexwale became a multimillionaire. The reasons for his departure from politics were not clear, but some in the ANC claimed his relations with Mbeki had soured to the point that he could no longer take the pressure.

But towards the ANC national elective conference in 2007 Sexwale also campaigned to be president, trying to contest Zuma and Mbeki, but he later withdrew and threw his weight behind Zuma.

He was elected to the national executive committee of the ANC. Zuma appointed him human settlements minister - a position he still holds.

Like Sexwale, Phosa was appointed the first premier of Mpumalanga, a position he held until 1999.

Soon after Mandela quit politics, Phosa focused on business while he remained on the party's national executive committee.

In Polokwane, Phosa - who was under the Zuma slate seeking to oust Mbeki - was elected treasurer general.

Ramaphosa, the chairman of the Shanduka Group who is so wealthy he could afford to buy a Buffalo for more than R18-million, became famous with Zuma's supporters after he upheld the ANC's disciplinary committee's decision to expel Julius Malema from the ANC.

Malema had become an acerbic critic of Zuma.

On the other hand, Phosa - the least wealthy of the three - became unpopular with Zuma's supporters when he decided to represent Malema in one of his initial internal disciplinary cases.