SOUTH Africans have mixed feelings about the year ahead, SABC television news reported on Thursday. This was revealed in the SABC/Markinor Opinion Poll 2002. It showed that while over a third of South Africans believed this year would be better than 2001, almost the same number thought it would be worse. Questions in the poll included the state of the economy and prospects of growing unemployment. The poll was undertaken as part of a worldwide survey by Gallup International. In Africa, Zimbabwe emerged as the most pessimistic country surveyed, despite the promise of presidential elections in March. But Nigeria, which has recently emerged from a military dictatorship, was among the most optimistic. It also found that despite the attacks on the United States in September last year, the US and Canada remained optimistic. Argentinians also emerged more optimistic than pessimistic, but were questioned prior to the country’s latest economic crisis. – Sapa
Thursday January 17, 2001