A Markinor poll of 3 500 South Africans has found that nearly three out of every four South Africans are happy with President Thabo Mbeki’s performance and more than three out of five agreed that he could be trusted to do what was best for South Africa.
The survey — released on the day of Mbeki’s State of the Nation speech — asked South Africans to rate the government and leaders on various areas of performance. It showed that the president lost support when it came to his performance rating — down from 79% in May 2006 compared to 73% in November 2006.
However, this was still higher than his first term as president when it dropped from 71% — in April 2000 — to 62% in November 2003. The rating jumped to 80% in November 2004.
In contrast, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is rated far lower — at the start of her incumbency she was rated at 43% in November 2005 rising to 46% in May last year and 49% in November last year.
Her predecessor Jacob Zuma hovered from 52% in April 2000 to 43% in November 2000 to 56% in May 2003 to a high of 66% in May 2004. He dropped back to 57% in May 2005 — a month before he was axed from the nation’s second most important political job.
Performance of the national government has dropped from a high of 75% in May 2004 — just after the national election to 64% in November last year.
However, these are higher than in the first term when the rating for the national government reached 57% in April 2000 and dropped to a low of 45% in November 2000. A high of 58% was reached in November 2003.
The president’s personal rating is far higher than the performance ratings of the national, provincial and local government.
Confidence in local municipalities declined — four out of every 10 (43%) adult South Africans rated the performance of municipalities as very or fairly good. This was down 6% on the comparable rating for November 2004 when one out of every two — or 49% — South Africans rated the performance of municipalities in a similar light.
The survey showed that black South Africans have the most trust in Mbeki, but poorer South Africans have a higher level of trust in the president’s ability.
About 65% of those who earn less than R1 199 a month believe Mbeki can be trusted to do what is best for South Africa, compared to 43% of those who earn R12 000 a month or more.
South Africans living in Limpopo were the most trusting — 59% strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that Mbeki could be trusted to do what was best for the country.
In KwaZulu-Natal, however, only 49% thought so.
According to director Mari Harris, the survey’s respondents were scientifically selected to be representative of the country’s adult population and represented all types of communities. ‒ I-Net Bridge