Mbalula was the voice of the Zuma campaign, using youth league machinery to ensure the then ANC deputy president ousted Mbeki from the top job.

Gigaba, on the other hand, was considered a Mbeki man, serving in his cabinet as deputy minister of home affairs.

Today, the two again find themselves in opposing corners - but this time the roles have been reversed. Gigaba has become the face of Zuma's bid for a second term, and Mbalula is part of a group wanting regime change in Luthuli House with the party's deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe, taking over the ANC.

Mbalula would like the post of ANC secretary-general for himself, but it seems his dream is slowly fading with his main backer, Julius Malema, dealt a blow yesterday when his appeal against the ANC disciplinary committee's findings failed.

Gigaba and Mbalula have not always been rivals. They worked closely as president and secretary-general of the youth league, respectively, between 2001 and 2004. Those who worked with them say they were so close that, in 2002, they would have informal discussions with other league leaders about their political ambitions.

In those discussions, Mbalula - along with the current Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa - was identified as the ideal candidate for the post of ANC secretary-general .

Gigaba was considered more of the "presidential type".

According to those discussions, Mbalula would succeed Gigaba as youth league president. Mbalula would in turn be succeeded by then national organiser Saki Mofokeng.

In 2004, Mbalula did indeed succeed Gigaba as president. But when the time came, in 2008, for him to give way to Mofokeng as per the succession plan, Mbalula had other ideas and hand-picked Malema, an outspoken Limpopo youth leader who was, at the time, a militant defender of Zuma.

Mbalula and Malema were soon to be disillusioned with Zuma. In 2009, the president failed to reward Mbalula with a full ministerial post for the role he had played in his campaign.

Instead, Zuma made Mbalula deputy minister of police, serving under Mthethwa - a man Mbalula regarded as his junior in terms of the old league hierarchy. Although Zuma later corrected his mistake by appointing Mbalula as sports minister, the president's relationship with the youth league continued to deteriorate.

As it became clear that the youth league wanted Zuma out - and wanted to make Mbalula ANC secretary-general - Gigaba and Mthethwa emerged as the president's staunchest defenders.

Mbalula sympathisers say Gigaba and Mthethwa would not support his bid for the secretary-general post because they consider themselves senior to him.

With Malema's youth league neutralised by the ANC leadership, it will not be as much of a factor as it has at previous congresses.

As things stand, Gigaba commands the support of the disbanded youth league structure in KwaZulu-Natal while Mbalula's influence over league structures is directly linked to Malema's fate.

And without a strong and cohesive youth league, neither Mbalula nor Gigaba can muster enough backing to deliver victory to their candidates.