South Africa’s celebration of “Freedom Day” on Saturday holds special meaning to us here in Jamaica as this country was the first in the world to impose a trade ban on the Apartheid regime.

The year was 1958 and Jamaica, despite being a colony of Britain that supported the racist regime in South Africa at the time, had no fear in declaring the ban.

It was a signal moment for us as we were appalled at the iniquity of the South African Government in formalising racist practices into law that placed the white minority in the highest class, with all other below them; namely, black, indigenous, multi-race people, and descendants of indentured Indian workers.

In 1990, after decades of protest, many of them deadly and bloody, the Government of President FW de Klerk repealed most of the social legislation that provided the legal basis for apartheid.

A new constitution that enfranchised blacks and other racial groups was adopted in 1993 and took effect in 1994. On April 27 that year the country’s first all-race national elections were held, resulting in an overwhelming victory for the previously banned African National Congress (ANC) and the election of its leader, former incarcerated freedom fighter Mr Nelson Mandela, as South Africa’s first black president.

So yesterday South Africa marked the 30th anniversary of that momentous occasion. But the celebrations came against the backdrop of opinion polls showing that the ruling ANC is losing support.

Wire service reports tell us that an Ipsos poll released on Friday showed support for the ANC, 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.

If the party wins less than 50 per cent of the vote at the May 29 national elections it will be forced to find coalition partners to remain in power. This would be the first time that the ANC would lose its parliamentary majority since 1994.

Yesterday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a speech marking Freedom Day, talked up the country’s achievements under the ANC’s leadership.

“South Africa today is an infinitely better place than it was 30 years ago,” Mr Ramaphosa said. “We have pursued land reform, distributing millions of hectares of land to those who had been forcibly dispossessed. 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.”

There is no doubt that there have been positive developments in South Africa since 1994. However, the ANC ’s image has been damaged by accusations of corruption and its inability to effectively tackle poverty, crime, inequality, and unemployment.

Mr Jacob Zuma, the fourth president of democratic South Africa from 2009 to 2018, was at the centre of those allegations of graft during his tenure. In fact, it was those allegations of corruption that forced him out of office.

Now, we see that he, again, has his eyes on the presidency, and is leading the new left-wing uMkhonto we Sizwe party that took the name of the armed wing of the ANC when it fought white-minority rule.

Mr Zuma, predicting victory for his party, is promising to “perform miracles” after the election. How he will fare is yet to be seen.

We will watch with great interest from this distance as we remember very well his chequered term in office.

However, we wish the people of South Africa all the best, hoping that the result of their vote will make life better for them.