The majority of South Africans prefer to have African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma as their next national president, a recent TNS survey has found.
Conducted on 3 000 adults between September and October, the survey saw Zuma emerge as frontrunner to succeed Thabo Mbeki when he steps down in 2009.
Responding to the survey’s question on who they would want to become the country’s president when Mbeki’s term comes to an end, 36% of the participants felt that Zuma should be the country’s next president.
While a section of participates named deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, her predecessor Tony Leon, and five other top politicians, including Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale, as their preferred choices, it was Zuma who got the lion’s share.
”Clearly there is little consensus in general, although, among black South Africans, Jacob Zuma has by far the highest response,” director of innovation and development at TNS Neil Higgs said.
He said the fact that certain participants came up with names like Leon and Zille was evidence that some South Africans still did not understand the country’s political processes.
”It seems that people do not well understand how the next president of South Africa is determined.”
No sore loser
Meanwhile, Zuma has assured South Africa he would not be a sore loser if he were not elected leader of the ruling party, a newspaper reported on Monday.
”I have accepted nomination knowing that the result could be anything and I am ready to accept any outcome. When we come back from Limpopo, we will be united behind that leader. That is our duty, that is our task,” Business Day quoted Zuma as saying.
Zuma, who was speaking at a South African Communist Party (SACP) rally, had just returned from a tour of India, the United States and England where he sought to allay the fears of investors concerned about a Zuma presidency.
The leadership of the ruling party is the traditional stepping stone to the country’s top job, and with elections due to be held in 2009, the elective ANC national conference being held this week is being closely watched. — Sapa, AFP