Mbeki, deputy president Jacob Zuma and a host of cabinet ministers repeatedly denied that there was any corruption in the deal.
And there must be questions for Labour to answer over the loss of Gower when they failed to predict a tight result, even when the Conservatives had launched their Welsh campaign there and Byron Davies had hosted a stream of ministers making the journey down the M4.
A host of Shadow Cabinet ministers have come out to praise Mr Dugher and mourn his departure.
Guest lists at the restored 18th-century mansion included the likes of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, a host of Irish prime ministers from the 1980s premier Garret FitzGerald onwards, business magnates and a succession of editors and chiefs of the global publishing industry.
For a start they hoped to present a government that looks more youthful and energetic, by bringing in a host of relatively young ministers to junior posts (though, notably, not Rahul Gandhi, who is widely discussed as a future prime ministerial candidate for Congress).
In the days that followed, opposition to his efforts, already building, all but exploded in Zambia as the party expelled the vice president and a host of other cabinet ministers opposed to a third term, to ensure parliamentary support for a constitutional amendment.
9.12am BST It's the last day that the Commons is sitting before the summer recess and, as usual, that means that we're get a host of announcements that ministers need to present to parliaments while they've got the chance.
But despite a host of concessions by ministers, professional bodies representing GPs, nurses and midwives, as well as health service unions, are calling for the whole plan to be abandoned.
Eagle and a host of other shadow cabinet ministers including Benn and the deputy leader, Tom Watson, believe that supporting Trident renewal is a vital part of assuring centrist voters that the nation's security would be safe in Labour's hands.
The host of the gathering, Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba of Spain, said he hoped "more concrete decisions" would be made at a meeting in April of interior and justice ministers from the European Union and the United States.
