Johannesburg - A latest Ipsos poll placed confidence in the ANC amongst South Africans at 60%, and President Cyril Ramaphosa says this shows a shift in how people view the party.
Ramaphosa said the party is finding its way back to being united since the December elective conference that saw him emerge victorious.
“South Africans are indicating the level of confidence and trust in the ANC and of us this is humbling. It shows that the ANC is being seen by the country's majority as a leader of society.
“Our conference in December mandated us to go on a unity drive, mesh the different approaches and perspectives into one solid ANC. That is what is at the centre and is driving the elected leadership. The ANC is finding its way to unity. It's not an easy task. Unity is a process,” said Ramaphosa in an interview on news channel eNCA.
Ramaphosa said he knew that South Africans were concerned with corruption and what is being done to address it.
“Corruption is one of the key issues concerning South Africans. Our people want a government that is there to serve them and spend their money correctly. Corruption is a cancer that will break the body politic of our country apart. We must tackle corruption with determination,” he said.
The Ipsos results polled 3738 South Africans in their chosen languages.
The poll was conducted between April and June this year and showed the ANC firmly in the lead.
These results show a small difference with the results of the 2014 national elections where the ANC received about 62.15% of the vote.
“It is important to point out that these figures are not a prediction for the national election in 2019, as it is still a considerable time before the election and many events that will sway voting behaviour are bound to happen. Also, these figures include a projection of the choices of all South Africans of voting age,” said Ipsos in a statement on Tuesday.
In the poll, the DA received 13% and the EFF at 7%.
The poll also asked respondents about the certainty of the country’s future based on the leadership of political parties.
“Reactions to the following statement “The future of the ANC is uncertain because of the leadership issues within the party”, showed that more than half of South African voters (54%) “strongly agreed” or “agreed” with the statement. Although it is understandable that supporters of opposition parties will be more doubtful of the ability of the leadership of the ANC to keep things together – about six in every ten DA and EFF supporters agreed with the statement. It is interesting that just over half of ANC supporters also agree,” the poll observed.