South African President Jacob Zuma today sought to calm an increasingly fractious battle to succeed him that is threatening to split the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.
Zuma, who has been hit by corruption scandals and his country's poor economic performance, will step down as ANC party head in December and as president ahead of the 2019 election.
The next ANC chief should be on track to win the general election and succeed Zuma in the top job, but the party has recently suffered a sharp decline in popularity.
Zuma, giving his closing address at an ANC policy conference in Soweto outside Johannesburg, called for the party to drop its "winner takes all" attitude to the divisive leadership race.
"I believe we must get rid of factions. The factions have become so deep," he said.
"We have almost have a situation where it looks like two organisations exist in one. We can't have that.
"Do we want an ANC that is perpetually destabilised, fighting among itself?"
The two leading contenders are Zuma's ex-wife, former African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, a wealthy former businessman.
Zuma, who is seen as supporting Dlamini-Zuma's campaign, called for the ANC to have two deputy presidents to broaden its top leadership team.
"There is consensus that our movement can no longer afford to totally reject leaders who were preferred by a significant number of members," he said.
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