PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has scored a landslide victory in the leadership contest of South Africa's ruling party.
The victory, according to agency reports, opens the way for him to lead Africa's largest economy until 2019.
According to official result, Zuma Tuesday won the backing of more than 75 per cent of the African National Congress (ANC's) 3,977 voting delegates at the party conference in Bloemfontein, making him the odds-on favourite to retain the presidency after 2014 general elections.
"The national conference has spoken and we are all part of that decision," a triumphant Zuma said in brief remarks to delegates, which focused heavily on party unity.
Also, former top unionist turned businessman, Cyril Ramaphosa, won the deputy's slot, setting him up to become Zuma's eventual successor. Ramaphosa won with 3,018 votes, beating strong contenders like Tokyo Sexwale.
Ramaphosa is one of the country's richest men, making his fortune as board member of Standard Bank, South African Breweries, president of telecoms company MTN or controlling the South African franchise for fast-food outlet McDonald's.
Meanwhile, congratulatory messages have started pouring in for him, including one from former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, a known friend of Zuma, who expressed joy upon the latter's victory.
Atiku, who was at the congress, said: "It has been a privilege to witness this 53rd Congress of the ANC. I congratulate my friend, President Jacob Zuma on retaining the leadership of his party – defeating so worthy and credible a contender as Motlanthe.
"Nigeria has much to learn from South Africa's 100 year-old ANC. This was just one of the many thoughts on my mind this afternoon as I watched my friend and brother Jacob Zuma make a masterful victory speech. A real landslide of a victory!"
The vote took place despite the conference being threatened by right-wing extremists.
Police said four men plotted to kill Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, government ministers and senior party officials.
The men appeared in court yesterday and were charged with treason and terrorism.
Inside the conference, there were also plots and intrigue.
Zuma had faced an embarrassing, if lacklustre, leadership challenge from Motlanthe, who won 991 of the votes.
The scale of Zuma's victory, dubbed a "Zumanami," prompted supporters to mock Motlanthe's camp, gesturing that their quest for change had gone "boom."
But after three years in power marked by crisis, Zuma faces a tough slog ahead.
He will have to work hard to win back South African voters, who increasingly see the ANC as out of touch, incompetent and corrupt.
Zuma's poll numbers have steadily eroded amid a series of scandals.
Criticism of his administration reached a crescendo earlier this year when police killed 34 striking miners in one day and it emerged that around $27 million (N4.185 billion) of taxpayers' money had been used to refurbish his private home.
Despite public anger at the state of the country, the ANC is likely to romp home in 2014.
Zuma will also face an uphill struggle to correct the course of the ailing South African economy.
Unemployment remains stuck at around 25 per cent and the economy is growing at its slowest rate in three years.
Atiku added: "Jacob Zuma fought hard – with wit, style, shrewd manoeuvring, compassion and a transparent patriotism that has ensured he has the respect of his party and the love of his people. The weekend of speeches and resolutions has been particularly exciting for me. As I listened to articulation of strong ideological positions from the older leftist tradition, which resolved to nationalise certain key economic sectors to the newer more centrist caucus epitomised by many of the younger ideologues, I was inspired."
