South Africa's famed ANC risks split in choosing new leader

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The stakes for Africa's oldest liberation movement have rarely been higher. As thousands of delegates from the ruling African National Congress party meet this weekend to choose a successor to scandal-ridden President Jacob Zuma, the race between his deputy and ex-wife threatens to split Nelson Mandela's legacy.

Zuma is finishing his second and final term as ANC leader, and whoever follows him will likely be elected South Africa's next president in 2019. Though weakened by corruption allegations against the president, the ANC has led the country since the end of white minority rule in 1994.

Of the seven candidates vying to succeed Zuma, the two front-runners lead increasingly entrenched party factions: Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, 65, and former African Union Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, 68, who is also Zuma's ex-wife.