SAfrica ANC opens door for Mbeki to remain leader

Midrand, South Africa, June 29 (Reuters) South Africa's ruling African National Congress said today it favoured keeping the current rules for electing the party's leader, opening the door for President Thabo Mbeki to seek a third term.

''There is no need to change the current procedures,'' ANC General Secretary Kgalema Motlanthe told reporters after about 1,500 activists met outside Johannesburg to discuss the party's policies and the process to elect a leader in December.

Although Mbeki must step down as the country's president in 2009, the ANC constitution does not prevent him from staying on as its leader, and he has not ruled out making another bid for the job. The ANC leader traditionally is the party's candidate in presidential elections.

Motlanthe, however, added that there was general agreement in the party that its leader should also be the party's presidential candidate in national elections.

Some rank-and-file members at the conference had recommended that the party's constitution be changed to stop Mbeki from staying on as party leader, while others favoured the status quo. A third group wanted the party's president and presidential candidate elected separately.

While allowing Mbeki the opportunity to hang on to the reins of the party, delegates also recommended that the leader's power to appoint key officials throughout the country be limited, a move that would effectively weaken Mbeki's power base.

REUTERS RS RAI2154