Former president Nelson Mandela has pulled out of an SABC advert in which he features with President Thabo Mbeki, fearing that he would be seen to be endorsing Mbeki in the ANC's succession battle, reported the Sunday Independent.

Former president Nelson Mandela has pulled out of an SABC advert in which he features with President Thabo Mbeki, fearing that he would be seen to be endorsing Mbeki in the ANC's succession battle, reported the Sunday Independent.

Mandela was not involved in mediating the stand-off between Mbeki and ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and "he will certainly not intervene", Jakes Gerwel, chairman of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, was quoted as saying.

There were fears internationally and locally that there could be an amendment to the Constitution that would allow President Mbeki a third term in office.

This despite the fact that in 2004 Mandela said that Mbeki would not try to a amend the Constitution so that he could take the country's helm once more.

The Sunday Independent reported that the party's top brass were in no doubt about the stress the ANC was under. This followed a three-day National Executive Committee meeting in Kempton Park which ended on Saturday.

They met behind closed doors and were said to have been wading through a "fairly extensive" document that dealt with "fractions and frictions" of the leadership race.

Mbeki and Zuma, who attended the three-day meeting, were said to be uncharacteristically passive. - Sapa