President Jacob Zuma is delivering his third State of the Nation address today against the background of a slide in his and his administration’s popularity.
Ipsos Markinor yesterday released its survey showing that 62 percent of respondents thought he was doing his job well or fairly well – down from 77 percent in November 2009.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents felt the national government was doing a good or fairly good job – down from 70 percent in November 2009.
However, these approval ratings are still better than those recorded in April 2009, when just half of respondents believed Zuma was doing a good job and 56 percent approved of government performance. That period covers the transition after the removal of former president Thabo Mbeki and the election of Zuma.
The public opinion survey canvassed 3 558 South Africans reflective of the country’s demographics and had a margin of error of 1.65 percent.
“When the survey was conducted in November 2010, Zuma had been in power for 18 months and it seems as if voters have allowed the present government a honeymoon period, which is now over,” said Ipsos Markinor director and political analyst Anneke Greyling.
“South Africans are now saying that the government has had time to show what it is made of and the public is not impressed with what they see.”
However, the survey showed approval ratings of 75 percent or more in the government’s distribution of welfare payments. Other areas in which it received a positive performance rating of between 51 percent and 74 percent were in addressing the HIV/Aids pandemic, improving basic health care, bringing police closer to communities and promoting nation-building and gender equality.
Areas where the government was failing included creating jobs, cutting crime, stopping the brain drain, reducing the income gap, promoting access to land, ending political violence and fighting corruption.
The survey said “much positivity... is slowly being eroded and being replaced by disillusionment over lack of delivery of promises”.