The race to lead South Africa's ruling African National Congress heated up on Monday when former political prisoner and businessman Tokyo Sexwale said he could be a candidate to succeed President Thabo Mbeki.
In an interview with the BBC, Sexwale said he would "consider" running for the ANC presidency if nominated ahead of a key leadership conference in December 2007. The post, currently held by Mbeki, is considered a stepping stone to the nation's presidency.
"If you are nominated, you consider," said Sexwale, adding he was ready for the challenge of uniting the party. The ANC has governed South Africa with a huge majority since the end of the apartheid era in 1994, but it has struggled with an unprecedented internal crisis since the controversial 2005 dismissal of the popular Deputy President Jacob Zuma. The infighting has intensified this year as Zuma's pro-labour supporters promise a ferocious battle to put their man in the top ANC job, while the pro-business wing of the party searches for an alternative candidate.
Sexwale, who left political life in 1998, is seen by many in the business community as the perfect candidate to continue Mbeki's centrist, investment-friendly policies. Cyril Ramaphosa, another ANC activist who shed a trade union past for the corporate world, also is expected to garner considerable business support if he decides to run.
But pro-business candidates could face a battle securing the leadership of the ANC amid growing dissatisfaction over the pace of redistribution in Africa's economic powerhouse. The uneven economic expansion during the Mbeki era has led to calls from the ANC's trade union allies for a shift away from policies they say have disproportionately favoured the white business community and a small number of rich blacks.
Sexwale, who was imprisoned on the notorious Robben Island with Nelson Mandela during the apartheid era, told the BBC that he did not think his years in business would hurt his chances of assuming the ANC leadership.
"It doesn't matter whether I am dressed in a business suit, I remain the ANC. When I was in the death cells, I remained the ANC. Dressed in prison clothes I remained the ANC. Underground, I remained the ANC. I listen to the ANC," Sexwale said. He would likely to face a stiff challenge from Zuma, who has all but announced that he will run for the leadership.
Zuma, who was fired by Mbeki during a corruption scandal, has become the standard bearer of the left and a lightning rod for the millions of poor blacks pining for a government focused on reducing poverty and delivering services.