Research News South Africa

New research: SA is more unified than we realise

According to an intensive research study into the hearts and minds of ordinary South Africans conducted by Ask Afrika and Infusion Knowledge Hub on the behest of the Centre for Communication and Reputation Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africans are more unified than we realise. The research showed that although our dreams of a rainbow utopia have faded to a more realistic pallor, South Africans are a resilient nation who remain proudly South African (84%) with an infallible sense of optimism for a bright future for all races.
New research: SA is more unified than we realise
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Fight against state capture and Xenophobia

The study which represents the views of 37-million adult South Africans showed that 46% of citizens describe themselves as South African before classifying themselves by race, culture or language groupings, while 61% are confident that we will have a happy future for all races in South Africa. Interestingly, 56% say they are confident of a happy future for all immigrants and South Africans to work side by side and 54% are confident of a happy future for all immigrants in South Africa. 72% of the respondents claim that they will fight against state capture and Xenophobia, while 76% will fight against corruption and racism.

To ensure that the views of all South Africans were represented in the study a rigorous sample group was drawn to include 80% of South Africans from the lowest income groups and 20% in higher income brackets.

Forty-five-minute face-to-face interviews were conducted with the respective respondents and the questionnaire was drawn up in English and translated into five of the official languages – SeSotho, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Setswana/Sepedi and isiZulu, although the questionnaire was administered in the remaining official languages where necessary.

Get up, stand up, speak up for your rights

The research, which aimed in part to get to grips with perceptions of protest (including voting) and its impacts encouragingly exposes some positives in that South Africans are slowly becoming more unified and are driven by a collective dissatisfaction with the perceived infighting, state capture and corruption at government and leadership level.

Altogether 77% of citizens feel that the country is going in a negative direction and although this inevitably leads to a sense of futility, South Africans are conscious of the power of their vote, with 90% saying corruption would affect the way people vote.

“From the grassroots levels up, citizens are gradually starting to take back their own future. In the process, a new narrative for the country’s population is being formed” said Ask Afrika CEO Andrea Gevers. “The 2019 elections should prove an important call to action, providing a means for citizens to voice their sentiments through the ballot.”

The data and results remain to be the voice of the citizens and is aimed to be used as a catalyst for positive change in South Africa.

The qualitative and quantitative data is available in open source format through the Centre for Communication and Reputation Management (CCRM Up). For enquiries please contact Prof Ronel Rensburg, Tel: +27 12 4203395; az.ca.pu@grubsner.lenor.

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