According to the findings of a poll conducted by the independent, publicly-listed research company Ipsos, “the last six months (in South Africa) were definitely characterised by increasing political uncertainty and speculation in the country”.
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. The proportion who said the country is going in the wrong direction is now 42% (up from 33% in May).
The results of the survey were released only days before the start of the ANC’s 53rd national conference in Mangaung where a bitter battle for party leadership is expected. The conference, where South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma’s leadership of the ANC is expected to the challenged starts on 16 December. More than 4,500 delegates will attend the conference in Mangaun. (That is what most of you will remember as Bloemfontein.)
Ipsos says against the background of the upcoming Mangaun conference, 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.”
