Ramaphosa’s support as political leader on the up

President Cyril Ramaphosa has growing support among South Africans as a political leader.

This is according to the Ipsos Pulse of the People poll conducted in May – June this year.

According to Ipsos, respondents, regardless of their political opinion, were asked to rate Ramaphosa, amongst others, as a political leader, with the result illustrating that the country’s citizens rate the president very highly.

“This is exceptional against the background of the general uncertainty in the country and the uncertainty expressed about the ANC’s future,” Ipsos said in a statement.

The poll found that 54% of the country’s population agree that because of internal leadership issues, the ANC’s future is uncertain.

Ramaphosa enjoys support from the entire the country, the poll found, however, in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal his support had been slightly less.

“In Mpumalanga, the president scores 8.5 out of 10 while David Mabuza who originates from this province receives a score of 6.1 out of 10,” Ipsos said in a statement.

In KwaZulu-Natal, former president Jacob Zuma’s home province, Ramaphosa scored 6.3 out of 10 compared to Zuma’s 5.9, Ipsos said.

“President Ramaphosa’s performance is rated consistently high from both male and female South Africans of voting age and he scores very high (8.2 out of 10) among ANC supporters. Supporters from both the DA and the EFF rate the president’s performance higher than 5 out of 10. If we compare president Ramaphosa’s performance with that of the other political party leaders and the deputy president, it becomes evident how far ahead the president is and how much South Africans expect leadership from him,” the organisation said.

The ANC said on Monday that the findings by the poll which showed Ramaphosa’s high rating indicated “that despite the challenging period we are going through, the majority of people continue to have confidence in the ANC as representing their aspirations, their present and their future”.

“The concern that voters in the poll raise about leadership issues and perceptions of divisions in the ANC is a matter that the 54th National Conference instructed us to tackle. In this context, the National Working Committee and National Executive Committee are committed to the programme of Unity and Renewal, engaging with ANC structures as we did in North West, and putting in place structures for internal dispute resolution and the Integrity Commission, as per 54th National Conference resolutions,” the governing party said in a statement.

The poll, which randomly interviewed 3 619 South Africans, also found that 52% of ANC supporters had been in agreement with those of opposition parties the DA and EFF about the uncertainty of the future of the governing party.

“Only one in every five South Africans (20%) feel certain about the future of the party,” Ipsos said.

The poll further found that almost half of South African men (49%) and four in every 10 women (41%) believe that men make better political leaders than women do.

This, Ipsos said, indicates that the country still has to make significant strides in terms of gender equity.

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