JOHANNESBURG 18 Dec (ANA) - South Africa’s ANC began counting ballots on Monday to determine who will lead the party which has ruled since the end of apartheid but is tarnished by scandals and allegations of corruption. The vote is perhaps the most pivotal moment for the deeply divided African National Congress since it launched black-majority rule under Nelson Mandela’s leadership 23 years ago. Whoever emerges at the helm of the ANC, a 105-year-old liberation movement that dominates Africa’s most industrialised economy, is likely to become the country’s next president after elections in 2019.

Senior party members drew battle lines on social media, backing either Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa or Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma - a former cabinet minister and the ex-wife of President Jacob Zuma - who are contesting the leadership. A total of 4,776 delegates were eligible to cast their ballots in a vote that began in the early hours of Monday. “It is going to be very close,” a senior ANC source said. “Both camps have spreadsheets where they have calculated the number of delegates on their side. Both sides have different assumptions and guesswork.” Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader who became a businessman and is now one of the richest people in South Africa, has vowed to fight corruption and revitalise the economy, a message hailed by foreign investors.

Dlamini-Zuma - the current president’s preferred candidate - has pledged to tackle the racial inequality that has persisted since the end of white-minority rule.

They were the only candidates nominated for the ANC leadership at a conference in Johannesburg on Sunday night. ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said all the provinces had finished voting, except for a few stragglers who were winding up. “When we are done with those people, counting will proceed manually. We are hopeful that by late afternoon or early evening we should be able to get the results.” The party’s Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu announced on Twitter that he voted for Ramaphosa, while police minister Fikile Mbalula tweeted that he had cast his vote for Dlamini-Zuma. Zweli Mkhize, the outgoing ANC treasurer general, said he had yet to vote but still planned to do so. He declined to say whom he backed but added that he had “absolute confidence” the delegates would make a good choice for the party’s leadership.(ANA)

FA/ANA/18 December 2017-----