PRETORIA - The new head of South Africa's ruling ANC, Jacob Zuma, is expected to call for party unity on Saturday in his first public address to the African National Congress on its 96th anniversary.
Thousands of ANC supporters, many wearing Zuma T-shirts, cheered and sang his trademark anti-apartheid guerrilla song "Bring me my machine gun" when Zuma arrived at a sports stadium west of Pretoria.
Zuma is expected to unveil his political agenda to bring together the party, divided by a bitter leadership struggle between himself and President Thabo Mbeki.
The ANC has said Zuma is its candidate for president of the country in 2009, despite corruption charges laid against him barely two weeks after he defeated Mbeki to become ANC leader.
The prospect that Zuma could be embroiled in a lengthy trial that may overlap with the next general election could fuel investor concerns about political stability in Africa's largest economy. Mbeki must stand down in 2009.
If he is not jailed, Zuma is all but certain to become South Africa's next leader, given the ANC's grip on power since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Zuma, 65, has said he would only step down if a court finds him guilty. He has proven resilient in the face of controversy, making a political comeback despite earlier corruption charges and a rape trial in which he was acquitted.
