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AD64: South Africans disapprove of government’s performance on unemployment, housing, crime

Anyway Chingwete 24 Nov 2015 South Africa
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For two decades, South Africa has been grappling with the agonizing triple challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address in February 2015 called upon the nation to be united in advancing economic freedom. Most South Africans would acknowledge that despite gains in political freedom, much remains to be done to overcome poverty and bring economic justice to the Rainbow Nation. A new Afrobarometer survey shows that unemployment remains the most important problem for government to address, cited as one of their three top priorities by nearly three-quarters of the survey respondents. In a list of citizen priorities that is largely unchanged from
Afrobarometer’s previous survey in 2011, unemployment is followed by housing, crime, education, poverty, and corruption. Yet on most of these high-priority issues, large majorities of South Africans say their government has performed “fairly badly” or “very badly” – an assessment that parallels increasing public dissatisfaction with elected leaders, especially President Zuma (see Afrobarometer dispatches No. 65 and 66, available at www.afrobarometer.org). Notable exceptions are majority approval of government performance in the areas of welfare distribution, uniting the country, and meeting educational needs.

Key findings
  • Unemployment remains by far the most important problem for South Africans, followed by housing, crime, education, poverty, and corruption. Education moved up in the priority list, but overall the popular assessment of problems that government should address have not changed substantially since 2011.
  • South Africans give the government high marks for its performance in ensuring welfare payments to eligible recipients, and a majority of respondents also approve of the government’s performance in uniting the country, addressing educational needs, maintaining roads and bridges, improving basic health care, and providing water and sanitation.
  • While most ratings are similar to 2011 assessments, public disapproval of government performance on crime reduction, management of the economy, and the fight against corruption increased by more than 10 percentage points from the previous survey.
  • On most performance indicators, Indian/South Asian and white South Africans rate the government more negatively than do their black and coloured counterparts.
  • Even among supporters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, majorities are critical of the government’s performance on job creation, keeping prices down, fighting corruption, and reducing crime.

For two decades, South Africa has been grappling with the agonizing triple challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address in February 2015 called upon the nation to be united in advancing economic freedom. Most South Africans would acknowledge that despite gains in political freedom, much remains to be done to overcome poverty and bring economic justice to the Rainbow Nation.

A new Afrobarometer survey shows that unemployment remains the most important problem for government to address, cited as one of their three top priorities by nearly three-quarters of the survey respondents. In a list of citizen priorities that is largely unchanged from Afrobarometer’s previous survey in 2011, unemployment is followed by housing, crime, education, poverty, and corruption.

Yet on most of these high-priority issues, large majorities of South Africans say their government has performed “fairly badly” or “very badly” – an assessment that parallels increasing public dissatisfaction with elected leaders, especially President Zuma (see dispatch No. 65 and dispatch 66). Notable exceptions are majority approval of government performance in the areas of welfare distribution, uniting the country, and meeting educational needs.

Figure: Disapproval of government performance | by party affiliation | South Africa

 

Anyway Chingwete

Anyway is the deputy director of surveys