South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is one of only two candidates to lead the African National Congress South Africa

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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress nominated just two candidates to run for its top job on Saturday, leaving President Cyril Ramaphosa up against a health minister who has suspended him over allegations of corruption in his party’s vote.

The winner will have the ANC’s blessing to run for president in the 2024 elections under their banner, historically an opportunity for the country’s highest office since Nelson Mandela, the party’s leader, ended white-minority rule in 1994.

The ANC’s five-day conference in Johannesburg has exacerbated a bitter divide between two main rival power blocs, one coalescing around incumbent Ramaphosa and the other around former President Jacob Zuma.

Former health minister Zweli Mkhize, who has emerged as Ramaphosa’s only rival, is allied with Zuma’s faction. Ramaphosa Mkhiz was placed on special leave last year in the wake of allegations that his management had infrequently awarded Covid-19-related contracts to a company controlled by his former partners.

Mkhize, who also ran against Ramaphosa when the latter won the spot in 2017, denies any wrongdoing. Both were nominated prior to the convention, and no additional nominees were added from the audience as nominations were completed around midnight Saturday.

After a rocky start to the rally on Friday, which saw Ramaphosa being jeered, cheered and called to resign by opponents, delegates to the ANC’s conference must decide which candidate is best suited to revive his fortunes.

The ANC is less popular than ever and faces the real possibility of losing its majority in parliament.

Ramaphosa’s opponents want him to step down over a scandal involving the discovery of cash stashes on his ranch. He has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged.

He was the front-runner to lead the party in the 2024 election, but his candidacy was called into question when an independent commission said last month he may have committed misconduct over cash found on his farm during a robbery.

The discovery raised questions about how he obtained the money, whether he made it public, and why he did not report it when the thieves broke in and removed it from the furniture.

Ramaphosa’s political woes have galvanized supporters of former leader Zuma, who himself is under investigation for allegedly colluding with three Indian businessmen to steal state funds during his tenure between 2009 and 2018, charges he denies.

Investors fear the return of Zuma’s power bloc could threaten reforms undertaken by Ramaphosa to try to root out massive corruption linked to his predecessor, who is already under pressure from the farm money scandal.

Mkhize had always been the strongest challenger from the Zuma camp – the other main challengers, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the minister and Zuma’s ex-wife, and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, did not qualify to participate in the ballot.

Ramaphosa’s allies, and even some of his rivals, on Saturday condemned opponents who derailed his inaugural address with cheers and shouts at the convention on Friday.

We must condemn [the disruption] “Because this is not the behavior of ANC members,” said Siboneso Duma, the KwaZulu-Natal regional ANC president, the largest bloc of influence trying to remove Ramaphosa.

“You just can’t [make noise] When the president speaks,” he told Radio Newsroom Africa, reflecting the backlash over Friday’s unrest that some people said could leave the president stronger than he appeared on Friday.

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