South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has come to the front line of the country’s tempestuous election campaign with a knockout gift for the local boss. It is sheltering in the shade of a trailer at the back of the presidential motorcade, swishing its tail. This prime head of cattle is a present for a village chief to secure his blessing for a day of politicking on his turf.

The formalities take up a precious hour of the president’s time, but needs must. The party he leads, the African National Congress (ANC), is facing its first serious electoral threat in its 30 years in power. As Ramaphosa bows his head at the chief’s family graves, I am reminded of the trademark of his long career: the patient quest to reach for the middle ground. It has served him and South Africa well on many occasions, not least in helping end apartheid without an all-out war. In the 1980s and early 90s, Ramaphosa had a magic touch as a negotiator, presiding over a series of near-miraculous agreements to ensure the end of white rule. He was one of the architects of that historic settlement that led to that inspiring morning in April 1994, when millions of Black South Africans lined up to cast their first vote.

Such excitement seems a distant memory now. Ramaphosa is the frontman for a party that has lost its moorings. In recent years, the ANC has been mired in corruption and presided over the country’s calamitous economic decline. If, as opinion polls suggest, it drops below 50 per cent of the vote for the first time, the ANC could end up having to go into coalition to stay in office. Whatever the outcome, an era is drawing to a close.