The ANC will pick a new leader at a conference in December and, given its national dominance since coming to power at the end of apartheid in 1994, the winner is likely to go on to be South Africa's next president when elections are held in 2019.
Dlamini-Zuma, the chairwoman of the African Union, is viewed as a frontrunner. She is a Zulu, the largest tribe in South Africa, and is expected to have the backing of her former husband, who will have a major say in who succeeds him.
The Women's League's endorsement is the first for a specific candidate by a national section of the ANC and will intensify the debate over who will take the party forward after it suffered its worst local election results last year.
Dlamini-Zuma was regarded as a capable technocrat during her time as South Africa's minister of home affairs between 2009 and 2012 and has since gained international exposure during her time as the first female head of the AU.
However, critics of Dlamini-Zuma, a medical doctor trained in South Africa and Britain, say she should have done more to intervene when former president Thabo Mbeki denied that HIV causes AIDs and imposed anti-scientific policies.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma CREDIT: SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS
Mbeki's stance has been blamed by health activists for more than 300,000 preventable deaths. Dlamini-Zuma was foreign minister in Mbeki's cabinet and one of his closest allies.
Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa, a unionist-turned-business tycoon, is viewed as her most likely rival after powerful trade unions endorsed him last year.
Neither Dlamini-Zuma, 67, or Ramaphosa, 64, have declared their intention to run.
Ramaphosa, who was once touted as a successor to Nelson Mandela, would be the first choice for many investors because his background in commerce suggests he will support more pro-business policies than many in the traditionally left-wing ANC. Source Telegraph
