Mbeki Wants to Stay Anc Leader

Thabo Mbeki has signaled his desire to retain power behind the scenes after he steps down as South Africa's president in two years by remaining leader of the ruling African National Congress.

But Mr Mbeki faces stiff opposition from rivals within the ANC in the run-up to the party's leadership election at the end of the year.

He is constitutionally barred from a third term as president when he leaves office in 2009 but there is no bar on him remaining ANC leader, although under his presidency and that of his predecessor, Nelson Mandela, the two posts have been held by the same person.

The ANC has won every election since the first post-apartheid ballots in 1994 with an overwhelming majority.

Speaking at the end of the ANC's policy conference on Saturday, Mr Mbeki put himself forward as a potential candidate by saying he would stand down if the party leadership required it but was prepared to stay on if it wanted.

"If they said 'No, you better stay for whatever good reason', that would be fine. You couldn't act in a way that disrespected such a view," he said.

Political wrangling over the succession at last week's ANC meeting ended with a compromise in which it was agreed that it would be preferable if the posts of party leader and the country's president were held by the same person but that it was not a matter of principle.

The fudge kept alive Mr Mbeki's hopes of retaining the party leadership in the face of opposition from other potential candidates, including Jacob Zuma, South Africa's former deputy president and deputy chair of the ANC, and Tokyo Sexwale, a former provincial governor.

Mr Zuma told the party meeting he was opposed to "two centers of power" and that the party leader should be its candidate for South Africa's president.

The ANC conference also voted to water down the president's powers by forcing the president to consult the party's national executive in appointing a cabinet, and to devolve the appointment of provincial premiers and mayors to the party.