More than half of ANC supporters say party's future is uncertain - poll

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

A survey has shown that more than half of adult South Africans AND 52% of ANC supporters agree that the future of the party is uncertain because of its leadership issues.

That is one of the findings from an Ipsos poll, which was released today.

"The reaction of South Africans on this statement was tested in November amongst a representative sample of adults. The last six months were definitely characterised by increasing political uncertainty and speculation in the country - and the proportion who agree with this statement is up from 48% in May this year", Ipsos said in a statement.

It continued: "To add to the uncertainty, only four in every ten (39%) South Africans currently think that the country is going in the right direction - this is down 7 percentage points from 46% in May 2012. On the other side of the coin, the proportion who said the country is going in the wrong direction is now 42% (up from 33% in May). (The balance did not have an opinion on this issue.)"

Ipsos says against this background, it is understandable that the ANC nomination conferences in the nine provinces were not without incident. "Especially in Limpopo and the Western Cape the process was drawn out. At the moment it looks certain that president Zuma will carry the vote in Mangaung, as only the 4500 delegates to the ANC conference will decide on the ruling party's (and the country's) next president. However, an evaluation of the views of all South Africans and ANC supporters gives an interesting perspective."