CAPE TOWN, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - The battle for the leadership of South Africa's ruling ANC is becoming ever dirtier and fuelled by paranoia in the final weeks before delegates vote for the as-yet undeclared candidates.

As the party's 2,500-plus branches begin nominating their preferred contender, the challenge on the surface appears a straight contest between incumbent Thabo Mbeki and deputy African National Congress head Jacob Zuma.

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Billionaire tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa is not interested in becoming the next president of South Africa's ruling party which chooses its new leader later this year, a statement said Monday.

'As I have said in the past, I have no interest in standing for this position,' Ramaphosa said in a statement quoted by the domestic SAPA news agency.

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - Billionaire businessman Cyril Ramaphosa has been approached to become the next president of South Africa's ruling ANC party which chooses its leader later this year, a report said on Sunday.

Officials from one of the ANC's most influential branches have earmarked Ramaphosa, the African National Congress's chief negotiator in the talks which led to the end of apartheid, as a unity candidate amid a bitter stand-off between ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and incumbent President Thabo Mbeki.