Ramaphosa’s popularity soars – even in the DA stronghold of Cape Town
While uncertainty still lingers around the leadership of the ANC, president Cyril Ramaphosa is by far the most popular political leader a new Ipsos poll has found.
In its latest survey, run between May and July 2018, Ipsos asked over 3,600 demographically representative South Africans how they saw the current state of leadership.
In the first part of the poll, South Africans were asked about the certainty of the ANC and its future leadership.
The feeling of uncertainty was widespread, Ipsos said.
“As can be expected, larger proportions of supporters of the main opposition parties (the DA and the EFF) agree that the ANC has an uncertain future, but it is interesting to note that over half (52%) of ANC supporters also agree.”
Only one in every five South Africans (20%) feel certain about the future of the party.
Political commentators and analysts said that the current leadership, under Ramaphosa, was sending mixed messages, fueling uncertainty, and spreading themselves too thin trying to appease everyone.
Meanwhile, the results come amid reports of an alleged behind the scenes plot by some within the ANC who are loyal to the old Jacob Zuma regime to topple Ramaphosa and again seize control of government.
But despite the murmurings, on the face of it, Ramaphosa enjoys wide support, even when gauging the views of supporters of opposition parties.
Ramaphosa’s performance ratings
When looking at the views on Ramaphosa’s performance as a leader, the president 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,” Ipsos said.
The group said that it is natural that both Mmusi Maimane and Julius Malema enjoy strong support from their own parties, but not so from supporters of other political parties.
“It is also interesting that women marginally support the ANC leaders more strongly, while men rate the DA’s Mmusi Maimane and EFF’s Julius Malema slightly higher than women do,” the group said.
Ramaphosa’s popularity has also only increased in the polling, showing a steady rise from May 2016.
Support for the president also comes from the whole country, though slightly less so from the Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, Ipsos said. However, he still performs better than all other political leaders in every province.
In Mpumalanga, the president scores 8.5 out of 10 while David Mabuza who originates from the province (and was seen as part of Jacob Zuma’s ‘premier’ league) received only a score of 6.1 out of 10.
The same is seen in the Free State, where ANC secretary general Ace Magashule (and the alleged head of the bid to topple Ramaphosa) has a strong support base. Ramaphosa’s popularity is almost it its highest in this province.
Looking at the official opposition, in the Western Cape, the province under DA administration, the performance of Mmusi Maimane is closest to Ramaphosa with a score of 5.7 out of 10. However Ramaphosa still leads with 6.3 out of 10.
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