Nine people out of 10 hate Magashule, SA Citizen Surveys finds

Neither the country’s ongoing failures nor the so-called Ramaphosa leaks could apparently dent President Cyril Ramaphosa’s image too much, but the same can’t be said for Ace Magashule, who has emerged as the country’s least-liked politician.

There has been a shift in public opinion towards political leaders and parties since the May national elections, and according to the latest South African Citizen Surveys (Sacs), the favourability ratings of several prominent political figures have seen a steady decline.

Most notably, ANC secretary-general Magashule, who was not that popular to start with, has seen an even further drop in favourability, making him only half as popular as Jacob Zuma was at the time of his resignation.

Magashule has the lowest favourability among the ANC top brass, having declined from 16% in June to only 11% in July this year.

“The significant drop in favourability ratings among the ANC leadership of 5% in only one month should raise concern in the party. The public have clearly indicated that the infighting and ongoing public court battles are reducing their confidence in the ruling party,” said Reza Omar, strategic research director at Sacs.

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema’s favourability also saw a drop lower than that of the former president.

The ratings showed Malema had seen a steady drop in favourability from a high of 30% in quarter four of 2018 to 25% in quarter two of 2019, putting him 1% lower than that of Zuma upon his resignation in the first quarter of 2018, when he was at 26%.

“Prior to the election period, in Q4 of 2018, Malema’s favourability was 1% lower than DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s (29%),” reads the report. “Maimane’s rating has held steady for Q1 and Q2 of 2019 at 28% while Malema’s has dropped.”

While Ramaphosa’s favourability ratings may have initially declined from the 64% in quarter two of 2018 to 55% in quarter four of 2018 as the extent of state capture became known, the quarter two of 2019 data showed that his favourability has since risen to 62%, his second-highest favourability score since becoming state president.

“This indicates that he emerged largely unscathed from the March Eskom crisis and, subsequent to the May 8 national and provincial elections, has received a popular mandate in order to address the most important problems facing South Africans – unemployment, crime, corruption and poverty,” the Citizens Survey stated.

According to Omar, comparing and analysing quarterly data “affords us the ability to gauge how the public feels over a three-month period that covers significant events, for example, the May 8 national and provincial elections and the State of the Nation address.

“Both these events occurred in quarter two of 2019 and saw Ramaphosa considered in a very favourable manner.”

The data was collated from face-to-face interviews with a nationally-representative sample of 3,900 respondents per quarter.

Since 2015, over 60,000 interviews were conducted in English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Sotho, Sepedi, and Setswana.

ANC top brass sliding

The latest June and July 2019 South African Citizens Survey monthly data analysed the most recent changes in the favourability rating of key ANC leaders. When comparing perceptions towards the ANC top brass, the monthly data showed some significant drops (5% on average) in their favourability ratings between June and July 2019, specifically:

• President Cyril Ramaphosa enjoyed the highest favourability rating, but his rating dropped by 2% from 64% in June to 62% in July;
• Finance Minister Tito Mboweni enjoyed the second-highest favourability rating of 35% in June, which dropped by a large 6% in July to 29%; and
• Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, who dominated headlines in July during his public legal battle against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, saw his favourability drop from 31% in June to a low of 26% in July.

Gordhan is still, however, favoured higher than Deputy President David Mabuza, whose favourability also fell by 5%, from 26% in June to 21% in July.

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

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