CONGO moved into prime position to take up a spot in South Africa's group for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers by beating Rwanda 2-0 in Pointe Noire on Sunday.

The win gave the Red Devils a handy lead to take to Kigali for the return leg of their second round qualifier, which determines which country joins Bafana Bafana, Nigeria and Sudan in Group A of the qualifiers, which kick off in September.

After playing to a goalless first half, Congo scored through Cesaire Gandze in the 70th minute followed by a second goal four minutes from time through Ferebory Dore. Rwanda will have to win the second leg on August 2 by a 3-0 score-line to go through, a feat they achieved in the previous round against Libya.

Mamelodi Sundowns winger Elias Pelembe scored on Sunday as Mozambique got a 2-2 draw away in Tanzania to set themselves up for progress in the qualifiers.

His goal opened the scoring in Dar-es-Salaam although the Mambas needed a late equaliser to share the spoils.

Orlando Pirates' striker Helder Pelembe was also in the starting line-up for Mozambique.

Malawi had Ajax Cape Town's new signing Robin Ngalande and Harry Nyirenda of Black Leopards in their depleted line-up as they lost 1-0 to Benin in another match on Sunday, giving themselves a good chance of reversing the score in the second leg in a fortnight's time.

But they had to play without Frank Mhango and Limbikani Mzava, who were refused permission to participate by Bloemfontein Celtic, while Robert Ng'ambi of Platinum Stars is still working his way back from an ankle injury. Having knocked out Liberia in the previous round, Lesotho looked to continue their giant-killing ways by beating Kenya 1-0 in Maseru.

The goal was scored by Bushy Moletsane just after the hour mark.