Jeremy Gordin and It's turned into bare-knuckle time in the bruising battle for the presidency of the ANC.

With a fortnight to go until the ANC's crucial national conference in Polokwane, Limpo-po, senior figures from both the Mbeki and Zuma camps have lashed out. Now the ANC's top brass are set to hear claims of vote-buying and other irregularities.

ANC chairman Mosiuoa Lekota confirmed yesterday that the ANC's National Executive Committee was preparing to meet on Tuesday for last-minute planning for Polokwane.

The ANC's electoral commission is to release the collated leadership nomination lists on Wednesday. There are rumours that the National Prosecuting Authority might be ready decide on several high-profile investigations, including reopening corruption charges against ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has overwhelmingly led in provincial nominations but the process is now mired in claims of vote-buying, factional canvassing and even the alleged last-minute creation of ghost branches.

ANC Secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe warned that the disturbing claims needed to be investigated speedily and that the ANC ran the risk of becoming paralysed for the general election in 2009, not to mention ending up with a rigged list of MPs for the next parliament.

But, in ANC tradition, and especially given the decision by the ANC executive that the run-up to the Polokwane conference should not be seen by the public to have turned nasty, the contenders have stepped out of the ring and sent in their seconds to do the punching.

In the case of President Thabo Mbeki, this has been Mosiuoa Lekota, the chairman of the ANC and the Minister of Defence. For Zuma, the fighter is Zweli Mkhize, the MEC for finance in KwaZulu-Natal and Zuma's friend and confidant.

Lekota was the first into the ring earlier this week when he accused Zuma of having asked to be fired from the cabinet in 2005.

Lekota said Zuma had held shares in Nkobi Holdings, the company belonging to Schabir Shaik, the Durban businessman found guilty of corruption in June 2005. It was as a result of Shaik's relationship with Zuma that Mbeki fired the former deputy president.

Early yesterday, Zuma said from London he was not going to comment on Lekota's "nonsense" until he returned in the next few days. Mkhize was handling the matter, he said.

In a 1 200-word written statement yesterday, Mkhize said it was untrue that Zuma had asked to be relieved from his position as the country's deputy president, as alleged by Lekota. Mbeki had indicated he had taken the decision after disclosures in the Schabir Shaik trial, Mkhize said.

Mkhize also said that it was untrue to say Zuma had shares in any of Shaik's companies. "Nor is it true," said Zuma's lieutenant, "as the (Lekota newspaper) report seems to suggest, that Zuma could have pocketed money destined for the ANC, behind the back of the ANC leadership. "The evidence in court (about Zuma, Shaik and the money) referred to money recorded to have been received by Zuma as a private personal arrangement. To suggest otherwise would be defamatory," Mkhize said.

On Lekota's claims that Zuma had fallaciously said there was a conspiracy against him, Mkhize said: "I would have wished Lekota did not deal in public about the issue of conspiracy, because the matter needs discussion in ANC structures… The involvement of state intelligence agents in allegations of senior members of the ANC involved in plots against the state has been worrying. Zuma has been among those falsely implicated," said Mkhize."

This week, Mluleki George, the Deputy Minister of Defence, and an Mbeki supporter, spoke out against Zuma and his camp. "There is no way we will agree to him being president of the ANC … We cannot allow (an election of Zuma because it would) plunge our country into chaos."

Democracy would be threatened if the country were run by people like Zwelinzima Vavi, secretary-general of Cosatu, and Fikile Mbalula, president of the ANC Youth League, because "honestly speaking, if this country is going to be run by people like Vavi and Mbalula … look at how many times this year alone Vavi has made statements where he had to apologise… what type of a leader is it who opens his mouth without thinking", said George.

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Gordin, Christelle Terreblanche and Cape Argus.