South Africans are more optimistic now than they were earlier this year, a market research company said on Tuesday.
According to the survey of 2 000 adults conducted in June, 73% of them agreed they were positive about South Africa and its future, 19% disagreed and 8% said they didn’t know, TNS Research Surveys said in a statement.
”This figure of 73% is well up on the February figure of 60% and the May figure of 68% — there has been an uninterrupted rise since the 56% achieved in November 2008.”
The figure of 73% equals the previous high achieved in May 2006 and is an ”encouraging return” to optimism that had fallen to an all-time low of 49% in mid-2008.
Twelve percent said they were thinking of leaving South Africa, 88% said they were not, and four percent said they didn’t know.
The figure for those thinking of leaving the country was essentially the same as the 11% of February, but there was a small rise in those saying they would not be leaving — from 82% to 84% — with a drop in those giving a ”don’t know” response from 7% to 4%.
The company puts the optimism down to the recent elections, which they believed ”may have crystallised a little more the feelings of some people”.
Interviewers found 84% of blacks were positive, 46% of whites, coloureds 61% and Indians/Asians 63%.
There was a slightly higher level of optimism among males (75%) than females (71%), though there was a decline among those aged 60 and over (56% were positive compared with 77% of those aged 34 years or less) and among the more wealthy.
The most positive in terms of wealth were those in the lower middle classes where optimism reached 82%.
Among blacks, Sotho-speakers were the least positive.
People in Soweto and Johannesburg were the most positive, and those in Cape Town and Pretoria the most negative.
Twelve percent of metro adults agreed they were thinking of leaving South Africa (up from 11% in February). Of this 63% were black, 23% white, 8% coloured and 6% Indian/Asian.
People currently at university showed a very high response, with 23% thinking of leaving. — Sapa