Youth rate Mandela the best leader

2012-07-17 19:35

South African youth have rated former president Nelson Mandela the greatest leader of all time, according to a survey. (AP)

Johannesburg - South African youth have rated former president Nelson Mandela the greatest leader of all time, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

"When asked who they thought was the greatest leader of all time, 71.6% voted for Nelson Mandela, 7% for Barack Obama, 6.7% for Martin Luther King and 3.8% for Gandhi," researchers said.

Pondering Panda conducted the survey among 4 500 South Africans aged 18 to 34 via cellphone last week.

Mandela celebrates his 94th birthday on Wednesday.

Asked who was the best South African president since democracy, 84% of respondents answered Mandela, 7% said Thabo Mbeki and 4% voted for President Jacob Zuma.

Five percent of respondents were undecided.

"Although the overwhelming majority felt that Mandela had been the best president since democracy, they also felt that the ANC had let him down," Pondering Panda said.

Sixty percent of respondents said the African National Congress had not stayed true to Mandela's dream for South Africa's future, while 35% said the party had stayed true. The rest were undecided.

"There were strong demographic differences in responses, with black respondents being most sympathetic to the ANC's efforts - 45% feeling that the ANC was indeed doing what Mandela would have wanted."

However, 80%of Indian, 76% of white, and 73% of coloured South Africans felt that the ANC had let Mandela down.

"Women were also more negative than men, with 67% feeling that the ANC had not lived up to his dream."

Respondents in Limpopo, at 84%, felt the strongest about Mandela being the greatest leader of all time.

This was closely followed by those in the Northern Cape at 83%.

- SAPA