Thabo Mbeki’s approval rating as president of South Africa has dropped since the beginning of the year, according to a TNS Research Survey released on Monday.
Researchers also found that African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma’s approval ratings have not seen a significant overall rise since they started measuring his ratings as party president in February.
The company conducted the two surveys among 2 000 people living in metropolitan areas to gauge the approval rating for the two in their different leadership capacities.
Researchers have conducted approval ratings for Mbeki for a number of years and found that the latest reading, taken in June 2008, shows a decline from 37% in April to 32% in June.
In 2005 Mbeki’s approval score averaged 61%, with a high of 66% in April 2005.
It dropped to 54% by the end of that year but hovered around that level until June 2007.
In September 2007 there was a drop of 14 percentage points to 40%, his lowest since April 2003. His approval average for 2007 was noted as 48%.
The approval rating among black respondents came in at 43% (down from 65% for the same period in 2007), white respondents at 10%, (34% in June 2007) coloured respondents at 15% (33% in June 2007) and Indian and Asian respondents at 9% (43% in June 2007).
By black language groups, researchers found that his approval ratings were highest among isiXhosa speakers at 57%, and lowest among isiZulu speakers at 37%.
The company said analysis by area showed that in June 2008 approval for Mbeki in the Eastern Cape was 49%, with 76% in East London and 37% in Port Elizabeth.
It was lowest in Durban at 18%, and Cape Town at 21%.
His approval rating in Gauteng was 36%. For Johannesburg, excluding Soweto, it was 36%, Soweto 30%, East Rand 36%, West Rand 33% and Vaal/South Rand 48%.
Pretoria was 37% and Bloemfontein was 65%.
Asking ”Is Jacob Zuma doing a good job as president of the ANC?” researchers found that 37% said yes, a one percentage-point increase from April and February’s 36%, and 44% said no, compared with 40% in April and 38% in February.
The number of people who said they did not know dropped to 19%, from 24% in April and 26% in February.
Black men showed the highest approval rating for Zuma (58%), with black women at 46%.
Among black respondents his ”yes” approval rating was 52%, up from 50%, white respondents at 9%, (16% in April and 8% in February), coloured respondents at 11% (6% in April and 11% in February) and Indian and Asian respondents at 13% (12% in April and 18% in February).
Zuma’s approval rating also dropped off ”markedly” for those aged 50 and over, researchers found.
In the Eastern Cape, Zuma’s approval percentage was 14 %, (10% for April and February), with 13% in Port Elizabeth and 16% in East London, and in Cape Town it was 18% (from 14% in April and 17% in February).
In Durban it was 46%, down from 47% in April and 50 % in February) and in Bloemfontein it was 50%, up from 40% in April and 48% in February).
His approval ratings were higher among isiZulu speakers (63%) and lowest among isiXhosa speakers (38%).
Researchers concluded that the fall in approval ratings for Mbeki had been across all race groups, with the Eastern Cape and Pretoria being the only areas to show ”resilience”.
Zuma’s approval rating as president of the ANC is ”still quite low”, but the ”proportion of people sitting on the fence is beginning to drop”.
Researchers concluded that ”as the president’s approval rating continues to fall, it is clear that, as yet, Jacob Zuma’s rating is not yet rising to fill what may be becoming a perceived leadership vacuum”. — Sapa