PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT OF 
 THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, JACOB  ZUMA 
 
 
 
by Paul Graham and Carmen Alpin  
 
 
October 2012 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In May 2012, a display of art entitled Hail to the Thief II caused a national controversy because of a 
March 2012 
single element hung on a separate wall. This was a pastiche of a well-known image of Lenin with the 
face of the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, and its genitals hanging out of the trousers. The piece 
was entitled Spear of t he Nat ion.
 
The controversy centred on issues of respect and dignity versus those of freedom of artistic expression.  
An unresolved court case was withdrawn after the image was serially defaced by two individuals, a 
public march on the gallery and a subsequent press conference between the African National Congress 
and the gallery owner.  
 
So the courts did not get an opportunity to provide guidance on the balancing of the various rights at 
play. But it was noteworthy that most of the protagonists who originally supported the rights of the artist 
to free expression subsequently backed away from this stance, taking account of the anger of those who 
rejected the display of genitalia and the disrespect for the president, his office and his person. The entire 
incident left wounds and revealed fault lines in South African society that have yet to be fully explored 
or resolved. 
 
But Hail tTo hitefhe  expressed a vipew residofen t tand he of the party he represents that is frequently 
referenced in public debate and the urban media. In particular, the President has been criticized for his 
performance, his absence from public debate, his disingenuousness on constitutional matters, his 
assumed corruption, and his personal lifestyle choices.  He has been called a dictator by individuals 
both inside and outside his own party. 
 
Yet in an Afrobarometer survey conducted in South Africa in October and November 2011, he garnered 
a 66% percent approval rating, and 63% of South Africans say they trust him somewhat or a lot.   Are 
there ways to understand this apparent gap between the image of the President in the media and that 
revealed by public opinion by looking at the Afrobarometer results alone? This briefing considers a 
number of factors that might explain why one person might rate President Zuma highly, while another 
tweets approvingly of his depiction as the  Spear of the Nation.
 
The Survey  
During Round 5, Afrobarometer surveys will be conducted in up to 35 countries in Africa, using a 
common survey instrument and methodology. The findings reported here draw from the most recent 
survey in South Africa conducted between October and November 2011. This is the sixth 
Afrobarometer survey conducted in South Africa (others were conducted in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 
2008). The survey was based on a nationally representative random sample of 2399 adult South 
Africans drawn from all nine provinces of the country. The findings reported here have a margin of 
1
sampling error of +/- 2 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. Fieldwork was conducted by Citizens 
Surveys Ltd., with technical support from Idasa.  
 
Context of the Fieldwork 
At the time of fieldwork President Zuma had been in office for 30 months. While the Afrobarometer is 
confident that its design enables respondents to voice deep-seated attitudes that are relevant irrespective 
                         
1
 All differences highlighted in the paper are statistically significant at a 95 percent confidence level or higher.   
1 
 



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of the timing of the survey, there will nevertheless be an extent to which the affairs of the day have an 
impact on the results. During the Afrobarometer fieldwork, we note that the media coverage of 
President Zuma included a number of positive aspects particular to this period. The ANC disciplinary 
committee concluded its hearings on Mr Julius Malema, head of the ANC Youth League, vociferous 
critic of Mr. Zuma, and promoter of an economic freedom agenda including nationalisation.  He was 
suspended by the party on 10 November 2011. 
 
In addition, on 16 September President Zuma announced a judicial commission into a long standing 
South African corruption controversy, an arms procurement package from 1999 in which he himself 
was allegedly implicated. He announced the name of the judicial officer who would chair the 
commission on 24 October. 
 
On that same day he announced the suspension of the National Commissioner of Police in order to 
investigate allegations of misconduct regarding the award of rental agreements for police headquarters. 
He simultaneously re-shuffled his cabinet, ejecting the Minister of Public Works, who was also 
implicated in the rental agreement controversies, and the Minister of Cooperative Government and 
Traditional Authorities, also found by the Public Protector to have abused his office. 
 
These decisive moves by the president were generally welcomed by the public, and may have had some 
impact on the survey findings reported below. 
 
Attitudes towards the president 
Afrobarometer contains four questions specifically related to the president. These questions measure 
trust in the president, perceptions of corruption in the Office of the President (OP), approval ratings for 
the way the president has performed his job over the previous year, and evaluations of how often the 
President ignores the courts and laws of the country. Findings for these questions are presented in 
Figures 1 to 4.
Figure 3: Performance of the President 
Figure 1: Trust in the president 
60%
40%
35% 
35%49% 50%
30%28% 
24% 25%40%
20%
30%26% 
13% 15%
10%20%17% 
5%8% 
10%
0%
Not at all Just a little SomewhatA lot0%
StronglyDisapprove ApproveStrongly
Q59a. How much do you trust the President? 
DisapproveApprove
 Q71a. Do you approve or disapprove of the way 
 President Zuma has performed his job over the past 
 twelve months? 
 
 
 
2 
 



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Figure 2: Corruption in Office of the Figure 4: How often President ignores laws 
President  
60%41% 45%
54% 
40%
50%
35%
30% 
40%
30%
28% 
30%25%23% 
20%
20%
9% 9% 15%
10%
10%
6% 
0%
5%
All of them Most ofSome ofNone
themthem0%
Q60a. How many Officials in the President's Office do AlwaysOftenRarelyNever
you think are involved in corruption? 
 Q52c. In your opinion, how often does the President 
 
ignore the courts and laws of this country? 
 
 
 
 
The data shows that 63% of South Africans trust the president somewhat or a lot, and two-thirds of 
citizens (66%) approve or strongly approve of the way he performed his job in the previous year. The 
majority of South Africans (71%) also believe that the president rarely or never ignores the courts and 
laws of the country. In addition, similar numbers (63%) believe that corruption is relatively uncommon 
in the OP (none or only some officials involved)-t, hird com(37%par) wed ho seto e itabou as t one
a more serious problem (³most or a ll involved).
 
The analysis excldonud¶est  k³now responses, but it is worth noting that overall citizens rarely did not 
know what to answer. Respondents had clear opinions about how much they trusted the president (only 
1% of respondents did not know), his performance (only 3% of don¶t know responses) and levels of 
corruption (5% of dont know responses), but less so on the President¶s law abiding behaviour (9% of 
respondents did not know). 
 
These four questions appear to be interrelated in the expected direction: high levels of trust are 
associated with high ratings of performance and law abiding behaviour, as well as low reported levels of 
2
corruption. Therefore a composite measure of attitudes towards the president was created to simplify 
3
the analysis by combining these four questions into a single indicator.  Each individual can then be 
ranked, according to this indicator, as having either negative, neutral or positive attitudes towards the 
president. 
 
Are these attitudes all to do with party allegiance? 
It is to be expected that party loyalty would be closely associated with differing attitudes towards the 
president, and the data partly corroborates this (Figure 5). ANC supporters have more positive attitudes, 
whereas those supporting the main opposition party had more negative views towards Zuma than the 
average. However, a sizeable proportion of respondents who were close to the DA nonetheless had 
positive views of the president (44%), while at the same time a substantial minority of ANC supporters 
had negative views of Zuma (18%). Those respondents who said they were not close to a political party 
                         
2
Cross-tabulations and chi-square statistics were run. All relationships were found to be statistically significant at 
the 95 per cent level or higher. 
3
Average scores were calculated across the 4 questions. 
3 
 



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exhibited more negative views of the president than the average.  
 
This needs to be unpacked and here we attempt to explore some of the factors associated with differing 
attitudes towards the president. In addition, the paper makes an attempt to answer the question of 
whether those citizens dissatisfied with the president constitute a homogeneous group, or whether they 
come from different communities and socio-economic backgrounds. 
 
Figure 5: Attitudes towards the President, by political affilliation 
80%
71% 
70%66% 
64% 
60% 
60%
50%
44% 
39% 
40%
27% 
30%
24% 24% 
18% 17% 
20%
13% 
12% 13% 
10% 
10%
0%
ANCDANot close to a partyRefused/Don'tTotal
know
Very or somewhat negativeNeutralVery or somewhat positive
Q89A.  Do you feel close to any particular political party?  
QBIY_š}Q W]Z‰ŒšÇ]šZšM
** The number of respondents allied to parties other than the ANC or the DA was less than 100. It is not possible to 
make statistically reliable inferences and therefore this sub-group is not reported 
 
 
Which factors are associated with differing attitudes towards the President? 
 
Demographics: Age, Education, Poverty and Region 
There were significant associations between the age, education, poverty level and province of 
respondents and their attitudes towards Zuma. Younger citizens tend to be more positive than average, 
while older respondents are more negative (Table 1). 
 
Table 1: Attitudes towards the president, by age of respondent 
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Age Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
negative Neutral positive 
18-25 21% 9% 70% 
26-35 21% 12% 67% 
36-50 24% 15% 61% 
Over 50 30% 14% 56% 
Total 24% 12% 64% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans. 
 
As shown in Table 2, higher education levels were also associated with more negative views of the 
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president, while those with only primary schooling exhibited the most positive views. Those with no 
formal education were the most likely to be ranked as neutral in their attitudes toward the president. 
 
Table 2: Attitudes towards the president, by education level of respondent 
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Education level Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
negative Neutral positive 
No formal education 17% 17% 65% 
Primary 19% 11% 70% 
Secondary 25% 12% 63% 
Post-secondary 27% 13% 61% 
Total 24% 12% 64% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
Regional variations in attitudes towards the president were very substantial (Table 3). Citizens in the 
Eastern and Western Cape were the most critical of Zuma, with the highest proportions with negative 
views of the President (both 39%). Residents in the North West, on the other hand, were the most 
positive, with fully 82% ranked as having positive attitudes, closely followed by residents in the Free 
State (80%), Mpumalanga (78%), Kwazulu Natal (74%) and the Northern Cape (73%). 
 
Table 3: Attitudes towards the president, by region of respondent 
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Province Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
negative Neutral positive 
Eastern Cape 39% 12% 49% 
Western Cape 39% 18% 43% 
Limpopo 26% 9% 65% 
Gauteng 24% 18% 59% 
Northern Cape 19% 8% 73% 
Kwazulu Natal 17% 8% 74% 
Mpumalanga 13% 9% 78% 
Free State 13% 7% 80% 
North West 7% 11% 82% 
Total 24% 12% 64% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
The South African Afrobarometer has a battery of six questions on the experience of poverty which 
assess how frequently people go without basic necessities (enough food to eat, clean water, medicines 
or medical treatment, cooking fuel, a cash income and electricity) during the course of a year. A 
composite measure can be created as an average across these six indicators to measure each 
4
respondent¶s overall lrtiyv.ed pov e
 
The data shows differences in the attitudes towards Zuma depending on the degree of lived poverty that 
respondents experience (Figure 6). The most distinctive finding is that those who experienced very high 
levels of poverty, i.e., reflecting a frequent absence of basic necessities, had the most negative views of 
the President: almost one-third (31%) express critical views, compared to only one-fifth (20%) of those 
who experienced some lived poverty. Similarly, a greater proportion of those who experienced high 
                         
4
This was done by aggregating all the scores to these six questions for each individual, and then condensing all the 
scores across individuals into four bands to depict various levels of lived poverty. 
5 
 



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levels of lived poverty (28%) also showed negative views of Zuma than those who experienced some 
lived poverty. Interestingly, those who did not experience poverty did not necessarily have the least 
critical views, with up to a quarter of these (25%) expressing negative views towards the president. This 
apparent dichotomy is further dissected in the two additional indicators that follow. 
 
Figure 6: Attitudes towards the president, by poverty level 
70%66% 
65% 64% 
58% 
60%
50%
40%
31% 
28% 
30%
25% 
20% 
20%15% 
12% 
11% 
8% 
10%
0%
No lived povertySome lived povertyHigh lived poverty Very high lived poverty
Very or somewhat negativeNeutralVery or somewhat positive
 
 
Afrobarometer has an additional question that can be used as a proxy for relative poverty. This question 
asks respondents to rate their living conditions compared to those of other South Africans. Respondents 
who rated themselves as experiencing higher levels of poverty relative to others were the most likely to 
report negative attitudes towards Zuma (32% compared to an average of 24%), and the least likely to 
express positive attitudes towards him (55% compared to an average of 64%). In contrast, those 
respondents who saw themselves as being better off compared to fellow South Africans were the most 
positive about the President (Table 4). 
 
Table 4: Attitudes towards the president, by relative lived poverty of respondent 
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Relative poverty: Your living Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
conditions vs. others negative Neutral positive 
Worse 32% 13% 55% 
Same 22% 14% 64% 
Better 18% 10% 71% 
Total 24% 12% 64% 
Q4. In general, how do you rate your living conditions compared to those of other South Africans? 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
Afrobarometer has two additional questions that can be used as indicators for relative affluence: 
whether respondents owned a motor vehicle and whether they used the internet. When examining the 
data for those respondents who did not experience poverty and who both owned a car and used the 
internet, the disparities in negative attitudes shown in Figure 6 are further increased. Respondents with 
a certain level of affluence were the most likely to report negative attitudes towards Zuma (35% 
compared to an average of 24%), and the least likely to express positive attitudes towards him (54% 
compared to an average of 64%) (Table 5). 
6 
 



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Table 5: Attitudes towards the president, by affluence of respondent 
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Affluence Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
negative Neutral positive 
No 23% 12% 65% 
Yes* 35% 12% 54% 
Total 24% 12% 64% 
*Respondents who did not experience lived poverty and answered YES to both: 
Q90C. Do you personally own a Motor Vehicle, Car or motorcycle?  
Q91b. How often do you use the internet? 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
Levels of optimism and attitudes towards the president 
Afrobarometer has two questions that can measure the level of optimism of respondents. The first of 
these questions asks whether respondents expect economic conditions in South Africa to be worse, the 
same, or better in twelve months¶ time. The second question asks whether respondents expect their own 
living conditions to be worse, the same, or better in twelve months time. The data from these two 
questions were combined to create a proxy variable for overall level of optimism.  
 
The data show that optimism is very strongly associated with attitudes towards Zuma. As shown in 
Figure 7, the least optimistic respondents (i.e., those who expected their living conditions and the 
situation of the country to worsen) were the most critical of the President (36% expressed negative 
views and 46% positive views, compared to the average 24% and 64% respectively), while the most 
optimistic respondents were the most positive towards Zuma. 
 
Figure 7: Attitudes towards the president, by level of optimism  
80%
71% 
70%
60% 
60%
50%46% 
36% 
40%
27% 
30%
18% 18% 
20%13% 
10% 
10%
0%
Low level of optimismMedium level of optimismHigh level of optimism
Very or somewhat negativeNeutralVery or somewhat positive
 
 
A second measure of optimism comes from a question asking whether respondents think the country is 
going in the right or in the wrong direction. The data again show that responses are strongly associated 
with attitudes towards Zuma, corroborating the findings above (Table 6). Those respondents who 
shared the view that the country was going in the wrong direction were the most critical of the President, 
while those who considered that the country was going in the right direction were the most positive. 
 
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ToòWšš]šµš}ÁŒšZ‰Œ] všUÇŒ‰}vvš[À]Á}všZ}µvšŒÇ
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Overall direction of the country Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
negative Neutral positive 
Going in the wrong direction 31% 13% 55% 
Going in the right direction 15% 11% 73% 
Total 24% 12% 64% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
Active citizenship and attitudes towards the president 
The South African Afrobarometer has a battery of nine questions on active citizenship. These measure 
the number of actions that people have taken as citizens in the previous year. Actions include attendance 
at a community meeting; getting together with others to raise an issue; contacting a government 
department to raise an issue; contacting radio, TV or a newspaper to complain about an issue; refusing 
to pay for services provided by government like water, electricity or property rates; refusing to pay a tax 
or fee to government; attending a demonstration or protest march; going on strike in order to demand a 
higher salary or better working conditions; and, using force or violence for a political cause. A 
composite indicator was created to measure overall active citizenship by averaging responses for each 
individual across these nine indicators.  Each individual can then be ranked, according to this indicator, 
as being very active, somewhat active, or not active citizens. 
 
The data shows differences in the attitudes towards Zuma depending on the degree of active citizenship 
(Table 7). The highest proportion of people with negative attitudes towards Zuma was amongst the 
most inactive citizens (those who had not taken part in any of the listed actions). Almost one third of 
these (32%) had negative attitudes towards Zuma. The most active citizens were also slightly less 
positive towards Zuma than the average, while those who were somewhat active had average views of 
him. 
 
Table 7: Attitudes towards the president, by active citizenship. 
  ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESIDENT 
Active citizenship Very or somewhat Very or somewhat 
negative Neutral positive 
Not active citizenship 32% 12% 56% 
Somewhat active 
22% 12% 66% 
citizenship 
Very active citizenship 25% 16% 60% 
Total 23% 12% 64% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
 
When examining the characteristics of those less likely to engage in civic action, the data shows that 
they tend to come from more affluent backgrounds.  As shown in Table 8, up to one third of such 
respondents did not engage in any of the named civic actions. In contrast, those experiencing the highest 
levels of lived poverty were the most likely to engage in such actions (Table 9). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Table 8: Active citizenship, by affluence. 
 ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP 
Affluence No active Somewhat active 
citizenship citizenship Very active citizenship 
No 13% 83% 4% 
Yes 33% 65% 2% 
Total 15% 82% 4% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
Table 9: Active citizenship, by poverty level. 
 ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP 
Poverty level No active Somewhat active 
citizenship citizenship Very active citizenship 
No lived poverty 30% 68% 2% 
Some lived poverty 10% 87% 3% 
High lived poverty 9% 85% 6% 
Very high lived poverty 10% 76% 14% 
Total 15% 81% 4% 
Figures are weighted row per cents and are based on responses from adult South Africans.  
 
Conclusions 
Public opinions do not always coincide with expert evaluations of a society, and public reaction to 
President Zuma is a case in point. Further analysis of the rich data presented here is welcomed. But this 
briefing makes some tentative suggestions about some factors that make a difference in one¶s 
evaluation of the president. 
 
Those who are pessimistic about their own and the country¶ s views, futuras do e hold more negative
those who evince limited support for a political party. The less civically active also hold more negative 
views. Citizens in the Cape region and in particular in the Eastern and Western Cape are particularly 
negative. The very poor also seem to hold more negative views. 
 
On the other hand younger and less educated people hold more positive views, as do those in the North 
West, Free State, Mpumalanga, Kwazulu Natal and the Northern Cape. 
 
It is entirely possible that those who feel most marginalised and disaffected from society and therefore 
least optimistic, and who are also least likely to take part in civic activity, also feel most disaffected and 
dissatisfied with their government, including its current leader.  
 
Furthermore, our initial analysis suggests that this is not a homogeneous group, and it appears to come 
from different communities and different socio-economic strata. Indeed, more affluent South Africans, 
as identified by the indicators outlined above, seem particularly passive on the types of citizen 
engagement measured by the survey. 
 
Mr. Zuma is a president who, despite the controversies surrounding him, is viewed positively by the 
majority of South Africans. South Africans and the president will want to reflect on the manner in 
which marginalisation increases negative attitudes tow ards the country¶s leader.
 
 
  
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Prepared by Paul Graham, Executive Director of Idasa ± an African Democracy Institute, and Carmen 
Alpin, Afrobarometer Network Data Manager, based at Idasa. They can be reached at: 

 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  and 
 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  for questions or comments.  
 
The Afrobarometer is produced collaboratively by social scientists from more than 20 African 
countries. Coordination is provided by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Idasa- 
an African Democracy Institute, the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of 
Nairobi, and the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IREEP) in Benin. We gratefully 
acknowledge generous core support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the 
UK Department for International Development (DfID), the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Swedish 
International Development Agency (SIDA), and the United States Agency for International 
Development (USAID) for Afrobarometer Round 5 research, capacity building, and outreach activities. 
Idasa is the Afrobarometer partner in South Africa - for more information on Afrobarometer work in 
South Africa please contact Anyway Chingwete, AB Project Manager, 
 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  
or visit: www.afrobarometer.org 
 
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