The ANC in Free State wants current chairman and premier Ace Magashule to remain in his position if branches nominate him.

However, it also wants Magashule, a staunch President Jacob Zuma supporter, to replace Gwede Mantashe as ANC secretary-general when the party holds its elective national conference in December.

ANC provincial spokesman Thabo Meeko told Sowetan yesterday that Magashule would relinquish his provincial chairmanship position if he is elected ANC secretary-general.

"The sentiment in the province is that Ace Magashule is ready for a national responsibility," Meeko said.

The ANC in the province will hold its provincial conference in Magashule's hometown of Parys in August.

Thabo Manyoni, who is the deputy ANC provincial chairman and former mayor of Mangaung, is a potential challenger for Magashule.

"The ANC can never be monopolised by [a] few individuals," Manyoni said.

The deputy chairman is thought to be backing Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to be the next ANC president.

Asked who he thought was the right candidate to take over the ANC reins, Manyoni replied: "We can't have a Bill and Hillary Clinton set-up in South Africa. We can't have anointed people. The ANC is a revolutionary organisation."

Magashule could not be reached for comment as he is out of the country.

The ANC Youth League in the province, which has publicly backed former AU commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to succeed Zuma as ANC leader, said Magashule has unified the ANC in the province.