(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Public support for Jacob Zuma has dropped this year in South Africa, according to a poll by TNS Research Surveys. 43 per cent of respondents approve of their president’s performance, down 15 points since November.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Public support for Jacob Zuma has dropped this year in South Africa, according to a poll by TNS Research Surveys. 43 per cent of respondents approve of their president’s performance, down 15 points since November.
Thabo Mbeki replaced Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s president after the 1999 general election, where the African National Congress (ANC) received 66.4 per cent of the vote. Mbeki led the ANC to a second majority government in April 2004.
In December 2007, Zuma defeated Mbeki in an internal leadership ballot and became the new leader of the ANC. In January 2008, Zuma was named as the ANC’s presidential candidate.
The rivalry between Zuma and Mbeki brought the ANC to a major crisis. In September 2008, a High Court judge dismissed corruption charges that had been laid against Zuma and accused the Mbeki administration of influencing the prosecution of the accused. Mbeki tendered his resignation as president.
In late September 2008, lawmakers elected ANC deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe—a former labour leader and former member of the military wing of the party—to replace Mbeki as president. Motlanthe is a close Zuma ally.
In the April 2009 general election, the ANC won 65.90 per cent of the vote and 264 seats—15 less than in the 2005 ballot. Zuma was sworn in as South Africa’s president in May.
Last month, right-wing leader Eugene Terreblanche was assassinated in his farm. In the 1980s, Terreblanche was an advocate of civil war to maintain apartheid in South Africa. He later called for his followers to establish an independent homeland for Afrikaners.
Following Terreblanche’s murder, Zuma appealed for calm and urged South Africans "not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fuelling racial hatred."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Jacob Zuma’s performance as president?
|
|
Feb. 2010
|
Nov. 2009
|
Sept. 2009
|
|
Approve
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43%
|
58%
|
53%
|
|
Disapprove
|
41%
|
23%
|
19%
|
Source: TNS Research Surveys
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 2,000 South African adults in seven major metropolitan areas, conducted in February 2010. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.
