"Zuma should resign," say 7 out of 10 South Africans
According to the latest Kantar TNS mobile survey, seven out of 10 South Africans say that Jacob Zuma should resign as the president of South Africa. This comes in the aftermath of last week's cabinet reshuffle and the dismissal of both the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas.
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The survey was conducted from Saturday, 1 April to Monday, 3 April amongst 1,000 South African adults, representative in terms of race, age, gender and province.
Key benefits of mobile surveys are that they capture the views and reactions of people close to the moment that they experience events and are self-reported and hence free from any interviewer influence – it is an accurate in-the-moment measure of mood and sentiment.
Although results were consistent across race and province, white/indian/coloured respondents held stronger views with 84% calling for President Zuma’s resignation, versus 69% of black respondents. The Western Cape showed the highest support for resignation (92%) with KwaZulu-Natal the lowest (63%), but still with a majority. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo all had support for ‘resignation’ with levels of 70% and above.
Zuma’s performance approval rating continues to decline
Kantar TNS has been measuring public sentiment in terms of whether Zuma has been doing a good job, through an omnibus survey, since his inauguration as the president in 2009.
This survey reveals that his approval rating is now at an all-time low. In this latest omnibus survey, only 20% of all South Africans, living in metropolitan areas, feel that he is doing a good job as president of South Africa.
In the same period, people who held the view that he is not doing a good job as president, went up from 67% to 71% of those surveyed.
The shift in ratings is most marked amongst black respondents with 64% disagreeing that Zuma is doing a good job as president which is up from 59% in February last year. Black females, in particular, are expressing a stronger opinion about their disapproval with ratings of 65% versus 57% last year.
This is according to Kantar TNS’s first omnibus study of 2017, conducted between 15 and 30 March 2017 amongst a sample of 2,000 South African adults living in the seven major metropolitan areas of South Africa. The sample is representative in terms of the area, race and gender profile of metropolitan South Africa.
The results of the mobile survey resonate with South Africans’ views on the performance of the president. The national mobile survey was conducted two days after the cabinet reshuffle. The metro omnibus survey was conducted before the ‘recall’ of Pravin Gordhan from his international investor roadshow and the subsequent cabinet reshuffle.
