Monday is D-Day for a decision on whether former police commissioner Lennit Max will remain the Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats (ID).
Max resigned last week "for personal reasons" but retracted it when he heard this would mean losing his seat in the provincial legislature.
ID leader Patricia de Lille said the party's caucus would decide on Monday whether it accepts the retraction.
She said the caucus wanted the provincial leader to be one of its three representatives in the legislature.
If he's out, a new provincial leader would be elected at the parties' Western Cape congress on December 18.
Max apparently said last week he would prefer to stay on if it meant he lost his seat - a move which could entail a significant loss of income.
De Lille said he agreed to stay on as provincial leader on condition that "problems with two ID representatives in the province were dealt with by the party".
Max could not be reached for comment as he is travelling overseas on official business this week.
De Lille was unable to give specific reasons for his resignation but said "personal reasons" and "personality clashes" were among the reasons for Max's original decision to stand down from his position.
He resigned in May 2003 as Western Cape police commissioner after 24 years in the service "for personal reasons" with a substantial golden handshake and was elected ID Western Cape leader in September 2003.
De Lille denied that Max indicated he had plans to resign from the ID, shown to be one of the two fastest growing opposition parties in the country in the latest SABC/Markinor survey released on Friday.
The survey found that significant growth in all nine provinces had made the fledgling ID the third largest political party in the country.
De Lille said Max's original decision to step down had nothing to do with allegations of nepotism against her after her sister Sarah Paulse was given one of the ID's three seats in the legislature.
The allegations of nepotism surfaced this week after Paulse was appointed despite being only ninth on the parliamentary list.
De Lille denied all the allegations around Paulse and said she had been working with her on the party long before it was formed.