Jacob Zuma swept to victory in South African ruling party African National Congress (ANC)'s presidency election in northern city of Polokwane on Tuesday night, a bitterly-contested win that puts him firmly in line for the presidency of the country in 2009.

Jacob Zuma beat Thabo Mbeki with 2,329 against 1,505 votes in their race for the presidency of the ANC, according to the latest announcement made by the party.

This was announced by the electoral commission of the party to more than 4,000 delegates at the ANC's national conference in Polokwane, Limpopo Province.

There were eight spoilt papers and one abstention.

The position of the party's deputy president went to current party secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, who received 2,346 votes against the 1,445 votes gained by his opponent Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Zuma's victory is a massive blow to Mbeki, who used his address at the opening of the Polokwane conference on Sunday to urge the party to opt for "ethical" leaders, and hit out at those in government who engaged in corruption.

Mbeki was seeking a third term at the helm of the ANC, but he failed on Tuesday night.

The leadership campaign of Zuma, Mbeki's deputy, was backed by the powerful Congress of SA Trade Unions, the SA Communist Party, five of the country's nine provinces, and the movement's youth and women's leagues.

The 65-year-old Zuma has massive grassroots support in the ANC, particularly in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. However he has stirred controversy with his views on women, gays and safe sex.

And he still faces one more challenge in his bid to lead the country: the possibility that the National Prosecuting Authority may take him back to court on corruption charges.

The charges, thrown out of court last year without a hearing, center on his relationship with businessman and struggle comrade Schabir Shaik, who was found guilty in 2005 of soliciting an arms company bribe for Zuma and jailed for an effective 15 years.

Mbeki sacked Zuma as deputy president soon after the Shaik verdict.

Later that year Zuma was arrested on a rape charge, on which he was acquitted, but not after raising eyebrows with revelations that he knowingly had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman some 30 years his junior, and took a shower to minimize his chances of contracting the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2007)