SOUTH AFRICA:As the battle intensifies for control of South Africa's ruling party, aides of one of the main candidates for the presidency have been accused of orchestrating a hoax assassination plot.
Police yesterday refused to comment on claims that that a one million rand (€105,000) bounty had been put on the head of African National Congress (ANC) deputy-president Jacob Zuma.
However, a Sunday newspaper reported that the plot was fabricated by some of Zuma's closest supporters.
One of them allegedly paid a vagrant to report the story to the police in what was presumably a bid to generate public sympathy for Zuma.
The incident is the latest twist in a leadership battle that has been mired in rumour and innuendo.
Multimillionaire businessman Tokyo Sexwale shook up the political scene last week by announcing his willingness to become president of the ANC, a post that traditionally guarantees the South African presidency.
The party is split between supporters of president Thabo Mbeki and those allied to Zuma, a controversial politician who portrays himself as the victim of government-led smear campaigns.
While some commentators welcomed Mr Sexwale's intervention, left-wing factions including the ANC Youth League have questioned his motives.
Mr Sexwale, 54, has impeccable struggle credentials, having spent 13 years as a prisoner on Robben Island with his close friend Nelson Mandela.
Since leaving politics in 1998, however, he has become one of South Africa's richest businessmen, and this causes some suspicion in a party officially allied to both the trade union movement and the South African Communist Party.
Defending his decision, Mr Sexwale said: "The ANC cannot afford to chuck out business people. It needs business people for it to survive."
December's leadership contest is set to be the most divisive in the ANC's history, and some observers fear that it may destabilise South Africa's democracy.
President Mbeki is considering running for a third term, something many believe would set a dangerous political precedent.
Mr Sexwale appeals to many of the ANC's "old guard". His image as a principled individual was helped last week when he called on the government "to turn up the volume" on Zimbabwe.
Mr Zuma, in contrast, has primarily drawn support from those with a vendetta against the Mbeki government - a large cabal, given the president's autocratic leadership style.
Since a corruption case against him collapsed last year, Mr Zuma has been rallying support from further constituencies both in South Africa and overseas.