Do black South Africans want to ‘chase whites into the sea’?

 ·3 Mar 2016

A new report by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) reveals the opinions of South Africans of all races when it comes to issues of racism and affirmative action.

In 2015, IRR commissioned a national opinion survey of public attitudes to race, empowerment, and other policy issues entitled Race: What South Africans really think.

The survey canvassed the views of a balanced sample of 2,245 people from all nine provinces.

It covered both rural and urban areas and all socio-economic strata. Of the respondents, 78.3% were black, 9% were coloured, 2.8% were Indian, and 9.9% were white.

According to the IRR, comments posted on social media suggested that black South Africans hate white people and want to drive them out of the country or, at the very least, relegate them to the status of second-class citizens.

The race relations organisation asked South Africans if this was really how they felt.

More than half of respondents (56.8%) disagreed with the view that ‘white people must learn to take second place’. Among black people, 58.3% disagreed.

SA is a country for black Africans, and whites must learn to take second place Total Black Coloured Asian White
Agree 30.2% 28.5% 35.5% 53.0% 32.0%
Disagree 56.8% 58.3% 49.4% 44.7% 53.7%
Neither agree or disagree 12.9% 12.9% 15.1% 2.2% 14.1%

More on race relations in SA

What South Africans really think about racism and affirmative action

The DA wants to change BEE laws – here’s how

‘Racism’ is all the ANC has left: Zille

‘Reverse racism’ doesn’t exist: Human Rights Commission

Show comments
Subscribe to our daily newsletter