A TNS South Africa poll released on Monday showed Motlanthe’s approval ratings at 70 percent, while Zuma polled 52 percent – less than the ANC’s total at the last elections.
Despite public anger at the state of the country, the ANC is likely to romp home in 2014.
The party has consistently received around two thirds of the vote in previous elections since the end of apartheid.
But a poor showing could exacerbate divisions within Africa’s oldest liberation movement.
With the opposition Democratic Alliance gaining traction in their personalised attacks on Zuma, the ANC could face a tough scrap to retain control of provinces like Gauteng — which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Zuma will also face an uphill struggle to correct the course of the ailing South African economy.
Unemployment remains stuck at around 25 percent and the economy is growing at its slowest rate in three years.
Meanwhile crucial sectors like mining have been hobbled by strikes over low wages and are struggling to modernise and reduce reliance on masses of cheap labour.
Credit ratings agencies have warned that further rating downgrades will come if the conference does not see the ANC change course.
Opening the five-day meeting Zuma tried to reassure investors that he does not back calls for mass nationalisations and that the country is not “falling apart.”
The election of Ramaphosa as deputy head of the party – putting him firmly in line to become deputy president – may also assuage industry fears.
“We are somewhat sceptical of the impact Ramaphosa can make though the market may interpret him, plus Zuma backing the National Development Plan as being a real positive,” said Peter Attard Montalto, an analyst with Japanese bank Nomura.
“What we may have here then is a positive PR boost plus another investor-friendly voice in cabinet but little real change on the ground and in action.”
Ramaphosa is one of the country’s richest men, making his fortune as board member of Standard Bank, South African Breweries, president of telecoms company MTN or controlling the South African franchise for fast-food outlet McDonald’s.
For Motlanthe the outlook seems bleak.
He ran a largely silent campaign that has sometimes appeared more like a protest than a real run at the top office in the country. Defeat leaves him in the political wilderness, with uncertainty that he will even remain as the country’s deputy president.
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