The ANC has governed Africa’s most advanced economy for all of its 30 years of democracy since the end of white minority rule. But the party of the late Nelson Mandela has seen a gradual decline in support and analysts say this election could be a watershed moment when it slips below 50% of the vote.

That would force the ANC into a coalition — a first for South Africa — to stay in government and keep Cyril Ramaphosa as president. There’s a very small chance the ANC may be out of government completely.

The ANC launched its election manifesto on Saturday.

Here’s what to know about the famous political party and the May 29 vote, which will be closely watched for signs of the direction that one of Africa’s most important countries is heading.

The ANC once commanded 70% of the vote and was almost untouchable in South African politics. It was admired for leading the anti-apartheid movement and freeing South Africa from the system of forced racial segregation.

But that reputation is no longer enough for many as the country of 62 million people faces deep socio-economic problems. The overriding sentiment is that the ANC has failed to significantly improve the lives of millions of South Africa’s poor Black majority over its three-decade rule.

That has been reflected in recent elections. The ANC won 57% of the vote in the last general election in 2019, its worst performance nationally. The biggest wake-up call came in local elections in 2021 when it went below 50%. That meant more South Africans voted for other parties than the ANC in a momentous shift.

Poverty and unemployment. South Africa’s official unemployment rate of 32% is the worst in the world and rising. South Africa is rated by the World Bank as the country with the highest wealth inequality, and while it has cities boasting high-rise financial districts, modern airports and some of the world’s best sports stadiums, it also has millions living in shacks and below the poverty line.

The ANC’s reputation has also been tarnished by a stream of corruption allegations, especially under the leadership of former South African President Jacob Zuma from 2009-2018. Rampant graft over that period is estimated to have cost billions of dollars and South Africa held a 4-year inquiry in an attempt to uncover the extent of the corruption.

Most recently, an electricity crisis tied to corruption and mismanagement at the state-run national power supplier has led to nationwide daily rolling blackouts. It has been disastrous for businesses and the mood of South Africans.

The main opposition party is the Democratic Alliance. It won 20% of the vote in the last election to the ANC’s 57% and is not expected to be able to challenge the ANC alone this year. The DA has a pre-election coalition agreement with other parties to combine their votes in an attempt to oust the ANC. All of them would have to increase their share considerably for that to happen.

The Economic Freedom Fighters, the third biggest party in Parliament, has risen in popularity under a fiery leader who was expelled from the ANC. It favors some radical far-left policies and is not part of the opposition coalition. If the EFF joined the coalition, that could push the ANC out of government, but the EFF and DA are far apart and as critical of each other as they are of the ANC.

The ANC was jolted last year when Zuma, its former leader, announced the formation of a new party. The uMkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) party could draw more votes away from the ANC.

Opinion polls predict that South Africa is heading for a coalition government for the first time.

Analysts expect that if the ANC gets less than 50%, it will go into coalition with other smaller parties to stay in government and reelect Ramaphosa for a second term.

South Africa has 14 political parties currently represented in Parliament and more than 300 parties registered nationally. Voters choose political parties and not candidates in national elections. Parties then get seats in Parliament according to their share of the vote, and lawmakers elect the president.

While a coalition government seems likely, that has raised concerns. The country has coalitions at the local government level, but many have failed, leading to more problems in delivering services for frustrated citizens.

Halep, 32, submitted the legal complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on Thursday, with Quantum Nutrition – also operating as Schinoussa Superfoods – and other unnamed individuals listed as defendants.

The two-time grand slam winner tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat – which is listed on the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List – at the 2022 US Open.

According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), roxadustat is a class of drug called HIF-stabilizing agents and can increase an athlete’s red blood cell count and boost endurance performance.

CNN has reached out to Quantum Nutrition as well as Halep’s attorneys for comment.

According to the complaint, Halep used Schinoussa supplements during the 2022 US Open tournament in New York. She later tested positive for roxadustat, which is not disclosed on the product’s label, the document says.

Quantum Nutrition is accused to have acted “carelessly and negligently” in allowing the product to becoming contaminated with roxadustat, according to the court documents.

The former world No. 1 has never knowingly taken any banned substances and is the subject of a “level of gross negligence,” the filing says.

Halep should be awarded at trial for loss of past and future income and earning capacity, the complaint states, as well as “past and future pain, suffering and humiliation” as well as “loss of enjoyment of life.”

Due to her ongoing suspension, Halep “has sustained damages in excess of US $10 million,” the complaint says. According to the Women’s Tennis Association, the 32-year-old has earned over $40 million in prize money during her career.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has said Halep’s suspension is backdated and will run from October 7, 2022, until October 6, 2026.

Halep was charged by the agency with two separate breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme. Along with testing positive for roxadustat, Halep was charged with irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), which is designed to monitor an athlete’s selected biological variables over time.

Halep, having previously denied wrongdoing, responded to the announcement of her suspension by saying she will appeal and has “never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance.”

John Koveos, the founder of Quantum Nutrition, disputed the claims when speaking with Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail in October 2023 after news reports tied the company to the doping case.

“They needed somebody to blame,” Koveos told The Globe.

Quantum Nutrition supplies products to “hundreds of athletes,” including Olympians, CFL and NHL players, Koveos told The Globe, adding that the company has a “100 percent clean record on all our athletes, and they’re regularly tested.”

Koveos claims Halep “was not the only athlete using that particular product on that particular day” at the tournament but did not name others, The Globe reported.

Halep said in a statement after her suspension that she had adjusted her nutritional supplements ahead of the hard-court season in 2022. She said that none of the listed ingredients included any prohibited substances, but accepted that one of them was contaminated with roxadustat.

“I was tested almost weekly after my initial positive test through early 2023, all of which came back negative,” Halep said.

Kiptum was 24 and had the world record he set last year at the Chicago Marathon ratified by international track federation World Athletics just last week.

He was one of the most exciting prospects to emerge in road running in years and was a clear contender for gold in the marathon at the Paris Olympics in August.

Kiptum, who was Kenyan, and his Rwandan coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed in the crash at around 11 p.m. Another Kenyan athlete, Milcah Chemos, confirmed their deaths to The Associated Press. She was at the hospital mortuary where the bodies were taken and had seen Kiptum’s body, she said.

She struggled to speak while breaking down in tears.

“I have no words to explain the loss of Kelvin,” she said.

The crash happened on a road between the towns of Eldoret and Kaptagat in western Kenya, Chemos said, in the heart of the high-altitude region that’s renowned as a training base for top distance runners from Kenya and across the world. Kiptum was born and raised in the area.

Chemos said she went to the hospital with other athletes and members of Kiptum’s family after hearing the news. The family members, which included Kiptum’s father, were there to identify his body.

Denis Muga, the area police chief for Kaptagat, said Kiptum was driving and it was the only car involved in the crash.

Kenneth Kimaiyo, a friend of Kiptum, said he arrived at the crash scene soon after it happened and Kiptum had been thrown out of the car. It appeared the car had veered off the road at high speed and collided with a tree before rolling, Kimaiyo said.

A third person, a woman, was also in the car and had been taken to the hospital with serious injuries, he said.

Photos from the scene showed the silver car with a badly mangled roof and one of the doors flung open.

The Kenyan track federation said it was saddened to announce the deaths of Kiptum and Hakizimana.

Kiptum was the first man to run the marathon in under 2 hours, 1 minute in an official race when he set the world record of 2:00.35 in Chicago in October, beating the mark of fellow Kenyan and marathon great Eliud Kipchoge. He set the record in just his third top-level marathon.

Kiptum and Kipchoge were expected to provide an enticing all-Kenyan battle for marathon gold in Paris. Kiptum was due to start his season at the Rotterdam Marathon in April, which would have been his first event since breaking the world record.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe was one of the first to offer his condolences in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the devastating loss of Kelvin Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakizimana,” Coe wrote. “On behalf of all World Athletics we send our deepest condolences to their families, friends, teammates and the Kenyan nation.”

“It was only earlier this week in Chicago, the place where Kelvin set his extraordinary marathon World Record, that I was able to officially ratify his historic time. An incredible athlete leaving an incredible legacy, we will miss him dearly,” Coe wrote.

David Rudisha, Kenya’s two-time Olympic champion in the 800 meters, wrote on X that Kiptum’s death was “a huge loss.”

Kiptum had immediate success by running the fastest time ever by a marathon debutant at the 2022 Valencia Marathon. The following year, he won the London and Chicago races, two of the most prestigious marathons in the world. While young and new to the circuit, he had already run three of the seven fastest marathon times ever recorded.

He was the latest of numerous top Kenyan runners to die in tragic road accidents.

David Lelei, an All-Africa Games silver medalist, died in a car crash in 2010. Marathon runner Francis Kiplagat was among five people who were killed in a crash in 2018. Nicholas Bett, who won gold in the 400 meters hurdles at the 2015 world championships, also died in a car crash in 2018.

Rudisha, former 10,000 meters world champion Moses Tanui and Olympic silver medalist Paul Tergat have all survived serious road accidents.

Samuel Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion who was also tipped to be an all-time great, died in 2011 at the age of 24 after falling from a balcony at his home in Kenya.

DR Congo went ahead for the first time at the finals when Meschack Elia nodded in Yoane Wissa’s cross to put the team ranked 67th in the world on course for the latest surprise result at a tournament which has been illuminated by underdog success in Ivory Coast.

Their lead lasted nine minutes before Mostafa Mohamed converted a penalty on the stroke of half-time after Ahmed Hegazi was caught by a flailing arm from Dylan Batubinsika.

Egypt finished with 10 men after left-back Mohamed Hamdy was shown a second yellow card seven minutes into extra time for a mistimed lunge on Simon Banza.

And, after Pharaohs keeper Gabaski had clipped the top of the crossbar in the ninth round of the shoot-out, Mpasi stepped up to win it 8-7 on penalties.

In the absence of injured captain Mohamed Salah, Rui Vitoria’s team ended the tournament winless and suffered the same fate as they did in the 2021 final, when they were beaten on penalties by Senegal.

An unmarked Hegazi headed an early first-half chance over from seven yards out and substitute Mahmoud Hamada lost his footing from a presentable opportunity late in normal time, but the Leopards were worthy winners and could have gone ahead sooner had the lively Elia not lashed an effort over in the third minute.

The shoot-out saw both sides miss from their second attempts, with Mohamed side-footing wide of the right-hand upright and Arthur Masuaku immediately scooping the ball over the crossbar for the Central Africans.

But Mpasi kept his composure to slot into the top right-hand corner against Gabaski, who had been a penalty-saving specialist in Egypt’s run to the final in Cameroon two years ago.

DR Congo will play Guinea in the quarter-finals at Abidjan’s Alassane Ouattara Stadium on Friday (20:00 GMT) after the Syli National beat Equatorial Guinea 1-0 earlier on Sunday.

If a knockout-stage meeting between two sides who had drawn all three of their group games is a rarity, it was less of a surprise when the contest ended all square after 90 minutes.

The move which broke the deadlock eight minutes before the break started with a piece of quick thinking by Masuaku, releasing Wissa on the left with a throw-in which allowed the Brentford attacker to enter the penalty area and clip a cross via a deflection into the path of Elia to head in on the line.

Egypt were missing one of the early stars of the finals, Emam Ashour, because of concussion, while goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, who suffered a dislocated shoulder during their final group-stage game, was replaced by Gabaski.

The North Africans may have been lacking the talismanic Salah in attack, but Mohamed initially proved his reliability again from the spot to equalise with his fourth goal of the finals.

Hegazi had gone down in a heap following Batubinsika’s aerial challenge, leading South African referee Abongile Tom to book the crestfallen centre-back for a stray arm following a VAR review and check on his pitch-side monitor.

Chances were few and far between in the second half, but Cedric Bakambu arrived ahead of Hegazi to meet Elia’s inviting cross after the winger escaped down the right but stabbed his first-time finish just wide at the near post.

Chancel Mbemba headed Masuaku’s cross over the target, and the Leopards needed Mpasi to react smartly when Hamdi Fathi’s clever flick allowed Zizo to accurately fire in a fierce shot from a tight angle.

But Hamada had the goal to aim at when Zizo located him at the far post shortly after his late introduction, only to lose his feet as the cross dribbled behind him in a let-off for DR Congo.

With penalties looming, Egypt had more defending to do once Hamdy had been dismissed for a foul which left Banza clutching an ankle in pain.

West Brom midfielder Grady Diangana narrowly failed to connect as the ball bounced tantalisingly across Egypt’s six-yard box, prefacing a finale in which the more established contenders seemed understandably content to play for time rather than attack with intent.

Mpasi appeared to be studying instructive photos of Egypt’s potential penalty attempts as the teams gathered before the final act, but Gabaski might have reminded himself of the four spot kicks across three shoot-outs he kept out at the 2021 finals, as well as Sadio Mane’s first-half effort in the final.

As it was, the player of the match on that occasion could only rattle the crossbar when he was called upon to take one himself this time, the consequence of a string of finishes which gave neither goalkeeper many chances to become a hero.

Belarusian second seed Sabalenka won 6-3 6-2 to claim her second Grand Slam singles trophy without dropping a set.

With 12th seed Zheng backed by passionate Chinese support, a composed Sabalenka sucked the energy out of her opponent and the crowd in a fast start.

She is the first woman to win back-to-back since Victoria Azarenka in 2013.

Sabalenka, 25, who became the strong favourite after top seed Iga Swiatek was beaten in the third round, emulated her compatriot Azarenka by completing victory in little over an hour.

“It’s been an amazing couple of weeks and I couldn’t imagine lifting the trophy another time,” said Sabalenka.

Zheng, 21, was playing in her first major final and often looked overawed – by both the occasion and her opponent.

Sabalenka back with a bang

When Sabalenka won in Melbourne last year, the key factors behind her success were remodelling her serve to avoid the double faults which had plagued her and working with a psychologist.

Her development over the rest of the 2023 season led to a a first stint as the world number one and becoming the most consistent women’s player at the Grand Slams.

Sabalenka went on to reach at least the semi-finals at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, but her attempts to win more majors were ruined by moments of uncertainty.

“There are not going to be big wins without really tough losses. You have to trust the process and believe that next time you’ll do better,” she said.

Returning to Melbourne, the experience of already having won there appeared to add an extra layer of belief in a series of composed performances.

Sabalenka dropped just 16 games on her way to the semi-finals – where she then exacted revenge on Gauff in straight sets – before turning her attention to Zheng.

Executing her aggressive approach to near perfection paid dividends.

Sabalenka broke at the first opportunity with a backhand which rocked Zheng, saw off three break points in the next game and continued to force errors from her opponent as she moved towards a clinical victory.

The rare moment of uncertainty in a dominant performance by Sabalenka came when she was trying to close out victory and needed to save a rare break point before taking a fifth championship point.

She took this with a clean forehand crosscourt winner, turning to her team with both arms lifted towards the sky before blowing a kiss.

Zheng unable to provide victory Chinese fans craved

While Sabalenka was trying to replicate the achievement of compatriot Azarenka, Zheng also had a significant moment of history which she was hoping to emulate.

Ten years ago, trailblazing Chinese star Li Na won the 2014 Australian Open to the delight of the nation – and an 11-year-old Zheng who watched on television with her childhood friends.

It would have sparked joyous celebrations – in Melbourne and back home – if Zheng marked the notable anniversary with her own triumph.

In a city with an enormous Chinese community, Zheng was backed by a majority of the 15,000 crowd with excitable fans waving Five-Star Red Flags and homemade banners in their support of a player known as ‘Queen Wen’.

However, she was unable to provide the victory they craved.

As well as looking nervy, Zheng could not cope with the pace of Sabalenka’s groundstrokes as the world number two proved too much of a step up in class.

The Chinese player had not faced an opponent ranked inside the top 50 – including British number one Katie Boulter in the second round – during her run to the final.

“It’s my first final and I’m feeling a little bit [of] pity but it was a good experience at the same time,” said Zheng.

“I feel complicated because I could have done better but I didn’t in this match.”

Team GB finished fourth in Tokyo 2020 with an impressive 64 medals, 22 of which were gold, just one down from their medal total from hosting London 2012.

Tokyo 2020 was postponed by a year because of the Covid pandemic but now, three years later with the crowds back to fill the stands, what can we expect from Paris 2024?

When are the Olympics?

Although the opening ceremony to signal the official start of the Paris 2024 Olympics will be held on Friday, 26 July, the sporting action actually begins on 24 July with pool matches in football, rugby sevens, handball and archery. The Games will run until 11 August.

Which venues are being used for the Olympics?

Most of the sporting events are in and around the heart of Paris, and the opening ceremony is set to be a spectacle, taking place along the Seine, the first time in Olympic history that the event will be held outside the main stadium.

The Stade de France will host the athletics and the closing ceremony. The Parc des Princes, home to Paris St-Germain, will be hosting football matches, and Roland Garros will stage tennis and boxing. Surfing will take place in Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia nearly 10,000 miles away from Paris.

Some 95% of the venues already exist or are temporary, with the aquatics centre being the only new venue specifically built for the Games.

How can I watch the Olympics?

The Paris Olympics will be shown live on BBC television and the BBC Sport website and app and there will also be extensive coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live.

What are the new sports at the Paris Games?

The only sport making its debut in Paris is breaking. It was first introduced at the 2018 Youth Olympics and due to the combination of athleticism and urban dance, it has secured a spot on the programme.

The competition will take place as solo battles and the breakers will improvise to the DJ’s tracks, and will include moves such as windmills, the 6-step and freezes.

The modern pentathlon will be changing format with show jumping being replaced with obstacle course racing.

Karate and baseball have been dropped from the Olympics since Tokyo 2020.

How many gold medals will be won in Paris?

There are 329 medal events across 32 sports.

Who is competing for Team GB and how many medals could they win?

Around 350 athletes are expected to compete for Team GB, with a handful already confirmed in canoe slalom, sailing and triathlon.

Team GB is predicted to take home 64 medals and finish third in the medal table behind the United States and China, according to data experts Nielsen Gracenote. Hosts France are predicted to finish fifth with 53 medals.

Real Madrid, despite previous unsuccessful attempts to acquire Mbappé, has reportedly presented a contract offer that is lower than previous ones but would still make him the highest-paid player at the club. However, it’s mentioned that the offer is not as high as what Madrid was willing to offer previously, as they aim to maintain parity with the salaries of existing stars like Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham, who earn around €10.5 million ($11.4m) net per season.

Mbappé currently earns €37 million per season at PSG and has been offered the same salary in their latest contract proposal.

Liverpool has also been keeping an eye on Mbappé’s contract situation, with reports suggesting that the French star hasn’t ruled out a move to the Premier League.

While some players at Real Madrid are hopeful about Mbappé joining the club in the summer, there’s a sense of caution due to past experiences where similar optimism didn’t materialize into a transfer, leading to Mbappé renewing his contract with PSG.

Despite the disappointment of not securing Mbappé’s signature in 2022, it’s emphasized that Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez is personally involved in the negotiations this time and has maintained communication with the player throughout.