- More than eight in 10 citizens (85%) say their elected officials should prioritise voter demands rather than their own ideas.
- But about half of citizens say MPs (51%) and local government councillors (48%) “never” try their best to listen to what ordinary people have to say.
- South Africans rank unemployment as the country’s most important problem that the government needs to address. o A lack of jobs is followed by crime, water supply, infrastructure/roads, corruption, electricity, housing, health, and education among citizens’ priorities for government action.
- On most of these priority problems, majorities of South Africans rate the government’s performance in addressing them as “fairly bad” or “very bad.”
- Citizens are divided in their assessments of the 2024 election leading to the GNU: About half (48%) say the election was largely free and fair, while 44% see it as “not free and fair” or “free and fair with major problems.”
- Overall, South Africans are split on the effectiveness of the GNU at solving the country’s “most pressing problems”: Four in 10 (40%) say it has been effective, while a similar proportion (38%) disagree.
- But a majority (59%) of citizens say the GNU is evidence that there is more that unites than divides South Africans.
South Africans cast their ballots on 29 May 2024, and for the first time since the advent of the country’s democracy in 1994, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost its outright majority, paving the way for a 10-party coalition government commonly referred to as the “government of national unity” or GNU (Krönke & Lekalake, 2025).
Besides the ANC, the GNU includes the Democratic Alliance (DA), Patriotic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Good Party, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Freedom Front Plus, United Democratic Movement, Al Jama-ah, and Rise Mzansi (Bhengu-Motsiri, 2024).
On Polling Day, the Electoral Commission of South Africa experienced some logistical challenges and delays, including long queues, poorly trained staff, and failing technology (Dentlinger, 2025), but it declared the election free and fair, describing glitches and irregularities as negligible (Enca, 2024).
At his inauguration on 19 June 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa labelled the GNU “the beginning of a new era.” He highlighted that a common mission would be indispensable to the government’s success, including concerted efforts to safeguard national unity and promote peace, stability, inclusive economic growth, non-racialism, and non-sexism (South African Government News Agency, 2024).
Thirteen months after South Africa’s election, Afrobarometer asked citizens about their elected leaders and elections, their country priorities, and the performance of the GNU.
Findings show that South Africans overwhelmingly want their elected leaders to be guided by citizens’ concerns, but few think members of Parliament (MPs) and local government councillors are listening.
The leading concern among South Africans is unemployment, followed by crime and security, the supply of water, infrastructure/roads, and corruption, and respondents rate the government poorly on addressing these priority problems.
Citizens are divided on the effectiveness of the GNU at solving the country’s most pressing problems, as well as the freeness and fairness of the country’s last election. But a majority say the GNU is evidence that South Africans can work together.
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