South Africa ruling party to hold leadership vote

POLOKWANE, South Africa (Reuters) - The African National Congress opens a leadership conference on Sunday which could determine who becomes South Africa's next president.

More than 4,000 ANC delegates gather at the five-day conference to elect a leader who could succeed South African President Thabo Mbeki when he leaves office in 2009.

The ANC typically wins two-thirds of the vote in national elections, giving it a stranglehold on the choice of president in Africa's largest economy.

The leadership race has produced some of the worst divisions in the ANC since the end of apartheid in 1994, pitting Mbeki against his left-wing rival, ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma, a populist who was fired by Mbeki after being linked to a corruption scandal, is going into the leadership vote with significant momentum, having nearly doubled Mbeki in party branch nominations in the lead-up to the congress.

The 65-year-old Zuma also has been endorsed by the ANC's women's and youth leagues as well as by the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which is in a formal governing alliance with the ANC.

Key members of the South African Communist Party, also in the governing coalition, have thrown their support behind Zuma out of a belief that he will reverse Mbeki's centrist policies and tilt the country to the left.

Mbeki, who took over the party from Nelson Mandela in 1997 and then the country two years later, is running for a third term as ANC leader, a position that would give him a big say over who becomes the ANC presidential candidate in 2009.

The South African leader is barred by the country's constitution from seeking another term as state president.

GRASS-ROOTS SUPPORT

Although Mbeki has been praised, especially by business, for spurring economic growth, critics say that his government has neglected the poor.

"Mbeki has made his work. He should give a chance to another person, and that person is Zuma," Francis Makgatho, a voting delegate and Zuma supporter, said after registering for the December 16-20 congress in Polokwane, about 350 km (218 miles) north of Johannesburg.

Mbeki's camp has tried to counter Zuma by casting doubts on his credentials and arguing that he lacks the temperament for the top job. Zuma was acquitted of rape last year and is currently the target of a bribery and fraud investigation.

Cabinet ministers loyal to Mbeki have stoked fears that the left could have undue influence in a Zuma government, possibly leading it to abandon an investor-friendly fiscal policy.

Zuma has responded by saying he is bound by the party's current program and would not introduce sweeping policy changes if elected.

For many voters, the ANC election is about two distinct personalities rather than a debate over policy direction.

While some South Africans see Mbeki as aloof, autocratic and too close to business, Zuma is popular among grass-roots activists.

Voting for the ANC presidency could begin as early as Sunday, with elections of other leaders to follow.

(Additional reporting by Bate Felix; editing by Myra MacDonald)