Majority think SA is on wrong path — survey
Political Correspondent
Most South Africans, regardless of race, income level or political affiliation, say the country is moving in the wrong direction, a new survey shows.
This is the latest evidence of discontent in a country trapped in a cycle of low economic growth with entrenched poverty and unemployment.
The data was drawn from two surveys conducted by the Social Research Foundation, a public policy think-tank, in June 2022 and March 2023.
The opinions of registered voters were gauged on whether SA was moving in the right or the wrong direction.
The March 2023 survey was conducted telephonically among a sample of 1,517 geographically and demographically representative registered voters, and had a national margin of error of 4%.
According to the survey, 88% of white people believe strongly that SA is headed in the wrong direction, followed by Indians 81%, coloureds 77% and blacks 65%.
Only 7% of whites, Indians, coloureds and blacks believe strongly that the country is moving in the right direction.
The outcome of the poll adds to a growing body of research showing that South Africans are losing patience with the ANCled government’s stewardship of the country, which has nearly 8million unemployed people and an economy that has hardly grown for more than a decade.
This comes in the run-up to the 2024 general election when the ANC is forecast widely to win less than half of the vote for the first time since it took power in 1994.
On the party affiliation segment of the survey, 83% of DA supporters indicated that they believe strongly that SA is headed in the wrong direction. They are followed by the EFF at 82%, and ANC at 54%.
About 12% of the red berets believe the country is going in the right direction somewhat, with 15% of ANC supporters strongly believing SA is going in the right direction.
But commentators including Pali Lehohla, former head of Stats SA, reacted sceptically to the survey. They said the Social Research Foundation could have raised the credibility of the sur
vey by sharing with the public the methodology it used. “The quality of research depends on the methodology. It’s like mathematics. You can’t discuss the answer without discussing the formula,” said Ntsikelelo Breakfast, a political analyst at Nelson Mandela University.
“We have to ask ‘how did you arrive at those conclusions?’ We must always take these findings with a pinch of salt unless we have access to documents explaining the nuts and bolts.” Breakfast emphasised that he was not saying it is wrong to arrive at these conclusions, “but we need to know the formula used, otherwise we can fall into a political trap”.
Lehohla, an executive committee member of the Indlulamithi SA Scenarios 2030, said it was a “serious problem” that the Social Research Foundation had not shared the methodology it used in the survey.
“On the face of it, no doubt, there is a serious problem in saying what people are thinking without explaining how you got there.
“This poses serious limitations. Decent work requires that you share the methodology used. Trust is in the methods used,” said Lehohla.
ON THE FACE OF IT … THERE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN SAYING WHAT PEOPLE ARE THINKING WITHOUT EXPLAINING HOW YOU GOT THERE