The Mbeki and Zuma camps are trying to resolve a dispute over whether votes should be counted manually or electronically. ANC leaders have appointed a steering committee to settle the issue.
President Thabo Mbeki and the organization's deputy leader, Jacob Zuma, have been in a bitter contest for the top post , which, if Zuma wins, places him in a strong position to become president of the country in 2009. In Polokwane, Limpopo Province, VOA's Delia Robertson profiles the two men.
Apart from their age, 65, anyone looking for similarities in President Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma would be hard-pressed to find any. Even on the surface, they are quite different.
Mr. Mbeki is a short man, with a quiet -- even shy - demeanor. However, an underlying intensity is evident, even on casual acquaintance. Zuma is a large man with a large personality and a ready smile on his lips that rarely reaches his dark, veiled eyes.
Their entry into politics was different, too. Mr. Mbeki comes from the so-called struggle elite -- a family steeped in the traditions of the African National Congress and anti-apartheid politics. Zuma was introduced to politics by a relative in the trade union movement when he was in his teens and joined the ANC at age 17.
During apartheid, the Mbeki family worked determinedly to overcome the limitations imposed by that system. His father, Govan Mbeki, was a university graduate and his son received a relatively privileged upbringing. He attended school regularly and ultimately attained a masters degree in economics at the University of Sussex in England.
Zuma, on the other hand, lost his father during World War II. His mother resorted to domestic employment to keep the family together. For Zuma, there was no chance to acquire an education. By age 15, he was doing odd jobs to supplement his mother's income.
After the 1962 arrest of many ANC leaders at Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, Johannesburg, the organization ordered a number of other leaders, including Thabo Mbeki, abroad to set up an opposition-in-exile.
After completing his studies, he was involved in the organization in ever more senior positions, eventually becoming head of international relations. In this capacity, alongside then-ANC president Oliver Tambo, Mr. Mbeki worked to raise and change the profile of the anti-apartheid struggle in the international community.
Mark Gevisser, Mr. Mbeki's biographer, says the role he played was pivotal.
"To the extent that we owe a debt of gratitude to Mbeki, I think he is the man who got the West to see that the ANC was not a terrorist organization but a liberation movement, and he is the man who got white South Africans to see that they could trust black people in leading this country," said Gevisser. "Unbelievable job, that he did."
On his return from exile in 1990, Mr. Mbeki became central to the negotiations that ended apartheid and, in 1994, was chosen by Nelson Mandela to be his deputy president. During this period, until he became South African president in 1999, Mr. Mbeki was largely responsible for the day-to-day running of the country. Many attribute him with setting South Africa on an economic path that has seen the country move from decades of negative growth to the longest period of sustained economic growth in over 40 years.
Sometimes called "the philosopher king," Mr. Mbeki has a deeply passionate vision for South Africa -- a country that has broken out of the cycle of poverty, where people will be able to live lives of dignity and opportunity. Often dubbed the Mbeki-project, author Gevisser says it is also a dream that Mr. Mbeki may be forced to defer when he leaves office.
"Is he going to run out of time? I think that he fears that he is, and I think that is one of the reasons why he wants to remain in power, if not in the office of the [South Africa] presidency, because he fears his project is not yet done," he said.
As president, Mr. Mbeki has also been severely criticized on several issues -- most particularly on his handling of HIV / AIDS. For some time, he publicly questioned the causal link between HIV and AIDS. Critics say that, as a consequence, the government was very slow to act to combat the disease and treat those ill with AIDS.
Some 5.5 million South Africans are HIV-positive, the highest number in the world. Now, South Africa has a widely accepted prevention and treatment plan in place, but Mr. Mbeki's critics say it should have been accomplished a lot sooner.