JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — President Cyril Ramaphosa touted South Africa’s achievements under his party’s leadership on Saturday as the country celebrated 30 years of democracy a month before its most consequential election in decades.

South Africans head to the polls on May 29, three decades after the first democratic election in 1994 ended white rule, bringing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) party to power.

“South Africa today is an infinitely better place than it was 30 years ago,” Ramaphosa said in a speech marking Freedom Day at the Union Buildings, the seat of Government, in Pretoria.

The 71-year-old used the occasion to list improvements shepherded by the ANC, which is struggling in the polls and risks losing its outright parliamentary majority for the first time.

“We have pursued land reform, distributing millions of hectares of land to those who had been forcibly dispossessed,” he said.

“We have built houses, clinics, hospitals, roads and constructed bridges, dams, and many other facilities. We have brought electricity, water, and sanitation to millions of South African homes.”

An Ipsos poll released on Friday showed support for the ruling party, which won more than 57 per cent of the votes at the last national elections in 2019, has fallen to just over 40 per cent.

Were it to win less than 50 per cent, the ANC would be forced to find coalition partners to remain in power.

The party’s image has been badly hurt by accusations of graft and its inability to effectively tackle poverty, crime, inequality, and unemployment, which remain staggeringly high.

Ramaphosa acknowledged the problems but denounced critics as people who wilfully “shut their eyes”.

“We have made much progress and we are determined to do much more,” he said.

About two-thirds of respondents to the Ipsos poll said the country was moving in the wrong direction.

“They promised us dreams, but they delivered only nightmares,” John Steenhuisen, the head of the leading Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said in a rival address in the battleground province of KwaZulu-Natal.

“True freedom is only possible when you have a job to meet the needs of your family and to build a better future.”

Ipsos found support for the DA was almost 22 per cent.

The leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are forecast to garner 11.5 per cent of preferences, followed by the upstart uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) led by former President Jacob Zuma at 8.4 per cent.

Last Thursday, supporters of Zuma, whose surprise comeback has stolen the thunder of the ANC ahead of the elections, feted the graft-tainted former president in his Zulu stronghold.

The 82-year-old announced in December he would campaign for the upstart left-wing MK party that took the name of the armed wing of the ANC when it fought white-minority rule.

The ANC tried to prevent the party from using the moniker, but a court in Durban, the capital of Kwa-Zulu Natal province and Zuma’s stronghold, rejected the plea.

A crowd of Zuma supporters sang and danced before his speech at his home village of Nkandla.

Under the scorching sun, some shouted “Zuma! Zuma!”

“It’s as though the elections have already passed. It’s like we have already won,” Zuma said to cheers and jubilation.

“When these elections pass we will perform miracles. Those who have only heard about us will see what we are capable of,” he said. “We are not playing. We will change everything that is out of order.”

Zuma has made headlines almost daily for a series of political engagements and court battles over his legitimacy to run in the May 29 election.

Zuma was the fourth president of democratic South Africa from 2009 to 2018 but was forced from office under a slew of corruption allegations.