Jacob Zuma's decision to suspend himself from the leading structures of the ANC without relinquishing his role as its deputy president mean that he has not thrown in the towel as a possible candidate for the ANC's succession.

This was view of some analysts yesterday, but others believed he was in effect dead politically.

"By removing himself from the top structures but retaining the position of deputy president, is his way of saying I am still in the race," said independent political analyst Protas Madlala from KwaZulu-Natal.

"'This does not affect my position,' is what Zuma is saying very clearly in his statement," Madlala said.

However, Madlala believed the rape allegation "could be a blessing in disguise" for Zuma, if he was eventually acquitted.

"If he is not found guilty then all future accusations levelled at him, including the fraud and corruption charges, will be totally disregarded by huge portions of the country. But if he is found guilty his political obituary should be written."

But Mcebisi Ndletyana, senior researcher for the Human Sciences Research Council, said Zuma was politically dead.

"Corruption charges can still be spun as a conspiracy theory, but with rape nobody wants to be with you," he said.

Describing "JZ" as damaged goods, Ndletyana said, the details that would come out in the trial would change the county's image of him.

"Even if he is not found guilty, it shows him to be an adulterer and as such further taints his character."

"He is not a colourful character anymore. The prospect of him becoming president is about nil," Ndletyana said.

Zuma released a statement after he was charged yesterday, in which he said he had voluntarily withdrawn from participation in the national executive committee, the national working committee, meetings of the ANC's top six officials and the national deployment committee, which he chairs.

However, he said he would "carry on with the general activities of the ANC as expected of all members of our organisation" and remained deputy president.

The ANC's national working committee was scheduled to meet last night, with some senior ANC members saying the ambiguities in the Zuma statement needed to be ironed out.

Steven Friedman, from the Centre for Policy Studies, described Zuma's statement as puzzling.

"I am not sure this is tenable. For the duration of this trial he has, therefore, turned the ANC deputy presidency into a ceremonial position."

Friedman believed Zuma's actions were the result of a political compromises the pro-Mbeki and pro-Zuma camps fighting for supremacy struck within the organisation.

"What this does confirm is that he is in no way throwing in the towel," said Friedman.

Judith February of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) said the latest developments, at best showed the courts were able to prosecute powerful figures without intimidation, but warned that rape was traditionally very difficult to prosecute.

She believed that even for the charismatic Zuma, maintaining his popular support for the duration of the trial would be difficult.

With acknowledgements to Boyd Webb and the Cape Times.