South African President Thabo Mbeki has ruled out staying in his post beyond the end of his second term in 2009. He said the governing ANC would not to use its two-thirds parliamentary majority to change the constitution to allow a third presidential term.
Formerly deputy president, Mr Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as president in 1999 and was re-elected in 2004.
Some ANC supporters have called for a debate on a constitutional change, promting speculation over a third term.
But in an interview with South African television, Mr Mbeki moved to crush such speculation.
"By the end of 2009, I will have been in a senior position in government for 15 years. I think that's too long," Mr Mbeki said.
"I think that after 15 years, I should step aside in any case."
The SA National Civics Organisation - a coalition of civic organisations broadly allied to the ANC - has called for a debate on changing the constitution so as to allow the president to run for a third term in office.
But Mr Mbeki said the ANC does not support that position, despite having won more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament in the 2004 election - enough to change the constitution unilaterally if it so chooses.
"The ANC has taken the position that we don't want to change the constitution," said Mr Mbeki.
"Even when we got that more than two-thirds majority, we said this, that we are not going to use this two-thirds majority fundamentally to alter the constitution. And that remains our position."
Over the last decade, other African leaders have drawn criticism at home and internationally for seeking to extend their terms in office beyond their original mandate.
Mr Mbeki's heir apparent, Jacob Zuma, was sacked last year as deputy president shortly before being charged with corruption, leaving the field wide open in the race to be the next president.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4684752.stm