OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday
CONFIDENCE in South Africa’s government has plunged over the past year but the African National Congress (ANC) is still expected to dominate municipal elections next month, a recent poll indicated.
“Trust in major institutions appears to have hit rock bottom on the eve of South Africa’s local government elections,” said Meshack Khosa, acting executive director of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), which carried out the poll.
In November 1999, 60% of those polled said they trusted the national government, but that figure declined to 43% in September this year.
Those who trusted political parties fell from 39% to 29%.
The survey of a representative sample of 2611 South Africans had a margin of error of plus or minus one to three percent. The respondents indicated reduced trust in all levels of government and the media.
Khosa said the reduction in levels of public trust showed “a maturation of democracy.”
“The public is becoming more empowered and able to distinguish the wood from the trees,” he observed in a statement.
Only the Independent Electoral Commission and churches commanded more than 50% trust.
Despite the falling confidence in the government, the survey indicated the ruling African National Congress would receive a minimum of 58% of the votes in the municipal elections on December 5.
The opposition Democratic Alliance was lagging behind with 12% and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a member of the ruling coalition at national level, had seven percent.
About a fifth of voters are “undecided,” particularly in the urban areas of the Western Cape, a province now controlled by the Democratic Alliance, and some areas of KwaZulu-Natal, run by a coalition of the ANC and IFP.
The poll found the ANC had made gains among coloured (mixed race) and Indian voters at the expense of the Democratic Alliance. – AFP
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