Survey shows ANC power

2008-11-23 14:31

Johannesburg - If South Africans were to vote now, the ANC would get the votes of 74% of decided voters, the Sunday Times reported.

This was 5% more than the 2004 elections. According to the survey by Plus 94 Research, the ANC would get majorities of between 80 and 82% in the Northern and Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

It would get 54% in the Western Cape, 57% in Gauteng and 73% in the Free State.

More than 65% of black voters had decided who to vote for, compared to 54% of whites and 40% of coloureds.

Indebted to ANC

Of the decided voters the ANC was the preferred party for 84% of blacks, 15% of whites, 50% of coloureds and 47% of Indians.

The research was conducted between the last two weeks of October and mid-November. A total of 3 500 face-to-face interviews were conducted in 3 500 homes in all nine provinces. Twenty-nine percent of the sample was conducted in rural areas and 61% in urban areas.

The survey also found that the ANC splinter group, the Congress of the People, would get about 1% of the support of decided voters. It might however get the backing of up to 9% of undecided voters, the report read.

According to the research voters, especially black ones, still felt indebted to the ANC. Not voting for it would amount to a betrayal of struggle heroes like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.

Plus 94 chief executive Sifiso Falala was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying: "From what I can deduce from the research... the ANC appears to be encoded in the genes of the people of South Africa."

- SAPA