Mugabe's availability as a candidate is uncertain as Zanu-PF is deeply divided over the issue. An overwhelming majority of the party members want a fresh candidate to try to stopMDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai's relentless rise to power.

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the first round of the 2008 polls before dropping out of the race due to violence and intimidation. The situation is likely to be the same in the next elections, particularly if the polls are free and fair.

As a result of this and Zanu-PF infighting, Mugabe has been under pressure to call for an extraordinary congress to elect a new party leader and candidate for the elections.

In a sign he was giving in to pressure, he said this week the conference in Bulawayo would be "just as good as a congress".

"Yes, we are organising for the conference. It is a very important conference as we organise towards national elections. After that conference we will not have another conference before elections so it is an important conference - just as good as a congress," Mugabe said on Monday.

This has now spurred senior party officials to demand a full extraordinary congress.

Zanu-PF holds annual confe-rences to take stock and wrap up the year. One of the main functions of conferences is to endorse the party leader as the presidential election candidate. Mugabe was endorsed as candidate last December in Mutare when elections were expected to be held this year.

Although Mugabe is likely to cling onto power in Bulawayo, pressure is mounting on him to quit. In a bid to contain the demands for him to go, Mugabe has now accepted that the conference should be like a congress, although he has not yet gone all the way to embrace the proposal.

Senior Zanu-PF officials who spoke to the Sunday Times this week said Mugabe was in a quandary over the issue because although he realises he is now too old and ailing, he is unwilling to step down. Insiders say Mugabe's real game plan is to die in office.

"Like we told you a few weeks ago that the Bulawayo confe-rence would be very critical, the president has now publicly confirmed that. The conference, which will be a mini-congress if you like, although we want actually a full extraordinary congress, will be a defining moment," a senior politburo member said. "It will be a decisive moment because we have to address the issue of leadership renewal and the candidate. Most people think for us to move forward we need a relatively younger leader, but there are others who say that while that is true, the timing is wrong."

Senior Zanu-PF politburo member Patrick Chinamasa told a local weekly that his party would not remove Mugabe at such a critical juncture because "we can't change the captain in the midst of a storm". He said the Zanu-PF ship was under threat of being shipwrecked.

Another Zanu-PF official said: "The issue is we need to resolve this leadership question and we can't do that through a conference, hence the demands for a congress."

Insiders said although Mugabe was prepared to accept an extraordinary congress, he was not ready to step down. Instead, they said, he would want to seek a stronger mandate from congress.

In December 2007, Mugabe was forced by the late General Solomon Mujuru's faction to call for an extraordinary congress instead of holding a conference.

The plan was to replace Mugabe with either Dumiso Dabengwa or Simba Makoni. After the plan failed, the two quit and challenged Mugabe during the 2008 elections under a makeshift party, Mavambo/Kusile, costing Tsvangirai outright victory.

By The Times (SA)