Zimbabwe's ruling party has wrapped up a key congress once again anointing veteran President Robert Mugabe as party leader and putting his wife Grace on a path to follow him into power.
"I want to thank you profoundly for once again choosing me to lead you," Mugabe told the thousands of cheering supporters on Saturday at the ZANU-PF's elective congress.
"I know where I come from... I am not greater than the people who gave birth to me," said the 90-year-old who has been in power in Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.
The congress also elected his wife 49-year-old Grace to head the party's powerful women's wing, which would put her higher among the contenders to succeed Mugabe.
She had won a surprise nomination in August to lead the women's league and has made no secret of her ambition to clinch the southern African country's top job.
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For now her husband plans to hold onto that position as party delegates also chose Mugabe to stand as the ZANU-PF candidate in the next elections in 2018.
On Wednesday, the firebrand leader had slapped down speculation he would stand down as "foolish" and "idiotic".
He drew a line under years of unrest within the ruling ZANU-PF, which have seen key lieutenants jockey for position in anticipation that his days in power are coming to an end.
ZANU-PF has been riven by factionalism over Mugabe's succession for years, with the Zimbabwean strongman avoiding naming a successor.
