President Thabo Mbeki has reached new heights of public popularity, with current job-approval ratings matching the best ratings given to Nelson Mandela, the Afrobarometer survey said on Wednesday.
According to the survey, conducted in January and February, nearly eight in 10 South Africans approved of the job Mbeki was doing as president.
When asked about the way Mbeki had performed his job over the past year, 77% said they approved, with 28% strongly approving.
”This is the highest level of job approval for Mbeki yet recorded by the Afrobarometer, and constitutes a 26-point increase since the 2000 survey, in which 51% approved of him,” the survey stated.
Mbeki’s new approval level is statistically indistinguishable from popular former president Nelson Mandela’s high mark of 79%, registered in 1998.
The Afrobarometer is produced collaboratively by social scientists from 18 African countries.
Face-to-face interviews were conducted in the country’s eleven official languages, with about 2 400 respondents across all nine provinces.
The survey revealed that Mbeki enjoyed majority support among respondents of all race groups, ranging from 80% among Africans to 55% of white respondents.
”Across the provinces, support ranged from 96% in the Free State to 63% in KwaZulu-Natal. His support is higher among union members, with 83%, than non-union members [76%],” the survey stated
Mbeki’s popular approval is at least twice as high as that given by Nigerians to Olusegun Abasanjo (32%) and by Zimbabweans to Robert Mugabe (27%), the two least popular leaders in the 18 countries surveyed by the Afrobarometer.
However, it lags behind the incredible 94% enjoyed by new Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and the 90% enjoyed by Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba.
While Mbeki’s support has increased since the 2004 survey, public approval of other elected leaders or institutions slipped downward.
Fifty-seven percent approved of the performance of the members of Parliament over the past year, down very slightly from 60% in 2004.
While 60% approved of the performance of their provincial premiers, this was down from 67% two years ago.
Premiers’ job approval runs from a high of 72% for Sello Moloto, premier of Limpopo and 69% for Nosimo Balidlela of the Eastern Cape, to lows of 40% for Dipuo Peters in Northern Cape — where 37% said they did not know enough about her to offer an opinion — and 37% for Edna Molewa in North West.
The sharpest drop in public satisfaction with elected officials was for local government councillors.
While 51% gave them a positive mark in 2004, this figure dropped to 38% this year, a 13-point drop.
The Afrobarometer also found that South Africans think that the government is doing very well in managing the country’s economy.
The government continued to receive strong ratings for its efforts to unite all South Africans into one nation (68%), especially in areas of equality, redistribution and nation-building.
”However, only 26% approved government performance in creating jobs,” the survey revealed.
On matters of welfare and development, the government received incredibly positive scores in issues such as welfare payments (82%), addressing educational needs (71%), improving basic health services (64%) and delivering household water (64%).
Government performance on combating HIV/Aids remained steady (56%).
In political governance, the government received far lower levels of approval, with 45% saying the government was fighting corruption in government very well, and only 35% being satisfied with government efforts to reduce crime. — Sapa