By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi and Mzolisi Witbooi
President Thabo Mbeki's announcement that he is making himself available for a third term as ANC leader is a good thing, say political analysts.
Mbeki told the SABC at the weekend that he would stay on as ANC leader if asked.
Meanwhile, the ANC resolved after a four-day national policy conference in Midrand that it would be "preferable" that its leader also be the country's president.
The South African constitution does not allow Mbeki to remain the president of the country beyond his second term, which ends in 2009, but the ANC's constitution contains no limit clause.
Ebrahim Fakir, of the Centre for Policy Studies, said: "The fact that he makes himself available is a good thing. He is following from (Tokyo) Sexwale."
A few months ago, businessman Sexwale said he was being lobbied by ANC comrades to throw his hat into the ring for the party presidency during its national conference in Limpopo in December.
Of the ANC's resolution that it would be preferable that the party leader also lead the country, Fakir said: "It is a classic ANC position. This way everyone wins."
Adam Habib, of the Human Sciences Research Council, said: "Both sides (the Mbeki and Zuma camps) are not strong enough to impose their will. They are beginning to explore other options."
He said there was no significant resolution to the succession question at the policy. "They are postponing the solution to the issue. It does not resolve the issue."
Susan Booysen, of Wits University, described the ANC's resolution as a compromise. She said it was what the Mbeki camp had hoped for.
"The alternative was for the guillotine to come down on his (Mbeki) head," said Booysen.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the Western Cape has denied rumours of internal divisions on the question of whether Mbeki should stand for party president again.
Provincial chairperson James Ngculu was reported to have supported the call of the ANC's Eastern Cape branch for Mbeki serve for a third term.
But provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha has dismissed the reports, saying the regional mandate was that "if the president availed himself for the third time, it was fine".
"But we stand by the decision of the general council that the new ANC president would also be the country's next presidential candidate.
"A third term would require a constitutional amendment (and) the ANC in the Western Cape would not support any amendments," said Skwatsha.
On Sunday the ANC dismissed as "fabricated" a Sunday Times report on the conference.
The report was "wholly and deliberately fabricated", it said on Sunday.
"Not only does the report fundamentally misrepresent important resolutions of the conference, it makes false and insulting claims about the integrity and discipline of the ANC's senior leaders," it said.
Under the headline, "Mbeki defies ANC", the newspaper reported that Mbeki had insisted he could still stand for a third term as ANC president, despite overwhelming opposition from delegates at the policy conference.
The ANC described the claim of defiance as "ludicrous". Conference delegates had been "emphatic" in their support of a united ANC, it said.
"No amount of inaccurate and malicious reporting can reverse the positions of ANC members."