All eyes on Polokwane
21/11/2007 22:38  - (SA)  

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Cape Town - The battle for the leadership of South Africa's ruling ANC enters a climactic phase this week with the party's two leagues and nine provincial branches each nominating their final candidates.

With less than a month to go before some 5 000 delegates gather in the northern town of Limpopo for an African National Congress elective conference, the nine provinces are to hold special meetings to consolidate nominations from more than 2 500 party branches.

The ANC women's and youth leagues will follow suit, a party statement said on Wednesday.

"Nominations from provinces and the leagues need to be submitted to the (ANC) electoral commission by (next) Monday."

With the horse-trading being kept closely under wraps, the main contenders still appear to be the party's deputy leader Jacob Zuma and incumbent Thabo Mbeki.

But Zuma faces being re-charged with graft after losing an appeal this month, while Mbeki's position is complicated by the fact that he has to step down as head of state in 2009.

Several contenders

Since the ANC took power in 1994 the head of the party and the president of the country have been one and the same person, with Nelson Mandela followed by Mbeki.

Party tradition precludes formal campaigning but other possible contenders include billionnaire businessmen Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and ANC Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe.

Since the beginning of October, ANC branches have been holding general meetings to make nominations for each of the 66 National Executive Committee positions.

The provinces will now use those lists to ballot secretly for their preferred candidate for each of the six executive NEC positions.

"The Electoral Commission will then consolidate all provincial nominations lists," said the statement.

"The commission will approach the individuals who have been nominated to establish whether they accept or decline nomination, and then circulate the consolidated nominations' list."