ANC demands Zuma ally in cabinet

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South Africa's African National Congress party is urging President Thabo Mbeki to include a prominent supporter of Jacob Zuma in the cabinet.

Jacob Zuma and supporters beat Mr Mbeki and his allies in leadership elections at the party's December congress.

The ANC executive has now said it wants its new deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe in government.

President Mbeki steps down as president in 2009, with Mr Zuma favourite to succeed him.

However, Mr Zuma faces a corruption trial in August which could scupper his presidential ambitions.

If this happens, Mr Motlanthe is seen as a potential alternative ANC candidate for the elections it is almost certain to win.

'Execution'

"As part of managing the transition we agreed as the National Executive Committee [NEC] that he [Motlanthe] should be deployed in government and in the executive," ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe told the media after an NEC meeting.

He dismissed suggestions that there were two centres of power within the party, whilst saying that the party's leadership had to "engage" with Mr Mbeki on what position the party's deputy president would fill.

"The NEC has taken the decision today... now execution must start," he said.

South Africa's media has speculated that Mr Motlanthe could replace Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is an Mbeki ally and succeeded Mr Zuma as deputy president when he was fired in 2005 in an arms deal scandal.

Mr Zuma was at the Constitutional Court last week, trying to prevent prosecutors using some evidence against him.

Jacob Zuma's lawyers argue his constitutional rights to privacy were violated when investigators raided his home three years ago.

They seized evidence, allegedly linking him to corruption - which he denies. The court has still to make a decision.