improve the prospects for the country's black majority she's up against deputy president cyril rama pozahe's a business friendly trade unionist and one of the wealthiest people on the continent the winner will likely be south africa's next president. for more on this we're joined by journalist philip yvette from the mail and guardian philip thanks for taking the time the race between the two candidates is too close to call there are new developments though this hour that could make it even closer can you tell us about that. well in the next hour of this conference we find. five hours later the reason for that delay some last minute legal action came to me yesterday that has now seen the exclusion of what reach out to be a two point five percent of the voting delegates at this conference keep in mind specter space we could tell the margin between the two even candidates five percent to twenty so things are very close indeed now once the conference gets under way we'll get a sense of the kind of arguments that might emerge in terms of which francia still be excluded and the credentials of

announced who will become the new leader to succeed jacob zuma the winner is president sarawak run poza he fought a close contest with seumas ex-wife sana limey zuma also coming up. turkey has ordered the release of german journalist and michel tulu from prison but says she won't be allowed to leave the country. in. a very warm welcome on layla iraq in berlin joined by my colleague christine moon because in south africa the country's ruling a.n.c. has elected the country's deputy president cyril round posing as its next leader he will take over from jacob zuma we're watching here live pictures of his supporters in the jubilation voting took place overnight and it was a tight race between the two front runners ramp. roser and former minister and costars are meanies whom are present rumors ex-wife but in the end there was ram poser who won it was it is widely regarded as a pivotal moment for the country the winner will be well placed to become south africa's next president in the twenty nine thousand general election all right and of course here with me to explore what this all means was

poza zuma as current deputy and one of south africa's richest men is battling causes on adela many zuma the president's ex-wife. emma poses seen as someone who could revive the party and its fortunes he has repeatedly spoken out against corruption in the country he also pledges to bring south africa's flagging economy back on track. still mean izumo was for many years head of the african union if she's elected her ex-husband jacob zuma might enjoy continuing immunity from prosecution observers say zuma might stand down early and not wait until the next elections due in twenty nineteen if his ex-wife does take over the party helm many in south africa would like to see zuma go. looking at looking at him as a sister look at newton as a lie and all those names that has been painted with. it's like the people that are supposed to be protecting the company don't keep. so it's about time that it's. zuma is rule coming to an end his legacy is a fractured party with an uncertain future. for more on this we're joined by w's christine wa christine will we know today who will be the next party lead

is the south african presidents preferred candidate the other main contender poza supporters say his business background makes him the best option to turn around south africa's flagging economy we'll get to our guests in just a moment but first tanya page has more from johannesburg. the african national congress a licht of conference is underway and it's going to be unfolding here over the next five days but most of the discussion and debate will be happening behind closed doors and those buildings there just in the distance behind the fence we can see some of the delegates there about five thousand or so have come here from branches of the a.n.c. all over the country they want to just be voting for the top job of president but deputy and in fact all the top one hundred he is the shins but of course it's the presidency that is the most contested the most important to the future of the a.n.c. and there are really two main contenders the first being of course as many zuma she is a very experienced politician she was a member of parliament and a minister under successive governments of

celeron poza and former minister because that has an ah a mini zuma jacob zuma as ex-wife well it's wildly regarded as a pivotal moment for the country whoever wins will be well placed to become south africa's next president and the twenty nine thousand general election. art well here to explore work this all means is you never use a christie moon or a very good to have you here with us christine talk to us a little bit about these are two from these two contenders what do they broadly represent all right so if you look at soran of course i hear you have sort of an a student negotiator he was actually meant to succeed nelson mandela for the presidency and when that didn't happen he went on to go to business he says become so that because the richest man and has come back to politics over the last five years and it was clear he was coming to take over for the presidency. is is speaking to to business in south africa he's saying all the right things he's talking about pursuing inclusive growth he's talking about the fact that he's going to restore the relationship that the private sector has

as president often second term the two official candidates are current deputy president zero on the poza and zuma is ex-wife and closes on a meanie. on your pages at the conference in johannesburg and spence is killing us isn't that we've been waiting for this for quite a while now any hints and clues as to who is going to. no i don't have any so close i think if you start giving you sort of fall into a bit of a trap because they had said earlier it would be closer to midnight and then they said five or ten minutes of that was about an hour or so ago so without a doubt they have never been closer but exactly when we just can't say this wasn't just the race for the presidency but for all top six positions in the. the four thousand eight hundred delegates had quite a substantial ballot paper and they need to make sure that the results verified that there perhaps is a double count happening that they are one hundred percent certain because it was expected to be a tight race however heading into the final vote. head four hundred more nominations from the branches. so he had what looked like