A mistaken belief by Senzo Mchunu’s supporters that he had been elected as the new secretary-general of the ANC ended up being an embarrassing episode for their preferred candidate.

Mchunu was competing with Ace Magashule for the position and the winner was announced on Monday night during the party’s 54th national conference.

Seconds after the election results were revealed‚ Mchunu's supporters‚ confident that he had won‚ cheered and carried him towards the stage.

But they then realised that Magashule had received more votes than Mchunu.

Magashule scored 2‚360 votes and Mchunu received 2‚336 votes.

Mchunu was beaten by a mere 24 votes.

He landed up on stage only to shake hands with some of the members of the Top Six that had been announced then walked back to his seat among the KwaZulu-Natal delegates attending the conference.