EFF’s anti-Gordhan campaign has flopped, survey shows

Despite being under pressure from the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters and his detractors within the ANC to resign, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan remains among the top three most popular politicians in South Africa after President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.

A new study by South African Citizen Surveys has found that prior to Ramaphosa delivering his third State of the Nation address (Sona), he has the highest favourability rating at 61%, followed by Mboweni (33%), then Gordhan (28%).

Ironically, Gordhan is followed by his arch opponent in fourth position, Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) leader Julius Malema, at 26%, and then Democratic Alliance (DA) interim leader John Steenhuisen, at 15%.

Steenhuisen’s popularity fell far below that of his predecessor, Mmusi Maimane who was at 24% in the last study late last year.

Maimane resigned from the DA and was replaced by Steenhuisen, who is the main contender for the leadership at the party’s congress in April.

The survey coincided with the EFF’s threat to disrupt Ramaphosa’s address in parliament to demand that Gordhan must go. But indications were that parliamentary security would remove the EFF MPs from the House as they did previously when they disrupted former president Jacob Zuma’s address.

According to the new survey, Gordhan is still liked by South Africans in spite of the EFF campaign to ridicule and undermine him.

The campaign is accompanied by a social media frenzy instigated by his opponents. Anonymous individuals criticise the minister for the crises at Eskom and SAA, while ANC comrades put pressure on Ramaphosa to fire him.

In the previous survey last year, Malema’s favourability rating ranged between 25% and 27% before settling at 26%.

“It’s interesting to note that Ramaphosa continues to retain the highest favourability rating (61%) among the major political figures surveyed by SA Citizen Surveys. Ramaphosa’s favourability rating reached a high point of 62% in the period of national and provincial elections.

“In the successive period the president has, despite all the challenges facing him and the country, maintained these very high ratings,” said Reza Omar, strategic research director at Citizen Surveys.

The Congress of the People’s (Cope) spokesperson Dennis Bloem lashed out at what he called the “barbaric behaviour of the EFF, saying the party must be condemned by all law-abiding citizens.

“Cope is saying if the EFF doesn’t want to listen to President Cyril Ramaphosa presenting the Sona they must stay away rather than disrupt parliament and turn it into a boxing ring.

“They must allow the country to listen to what Ramaphosa is going to tell them. Parliament’s status can’t be undermined like this anymore,” Bloem said.

How data is collected

Citizen Surveys’ data is collated from face-to-face interviews with a nationally-representative sample of 1,300 respondents monthly.

“Sample weights are developed based on the multistage stratified sample design and the most recent Statistics South Africa estimates of the population aged 18 and older to ensure the sample represents the national population with respect to province, population group, gender, age and area type.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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