Hermann Pretorius of the Institute of Race Relations divulges the results of a recent poll on the policy preferences of registered voters, which I will try and summarise into 864 words. The full report is downloadable here.
ANC Policy vs Voter Preference
Essentially he considered the recent spate of policies signed into law in Parliament as well as long-standing policy initiatives of the ANC and asked a representative sample of South Africans across different racial, party political, and income groups what the extent of their support for these policies were.
The findings support the view that essentially the great majority of South Africans, regardless of Race, Political Party affiliation or Income group are centrist, conservative and have the same views on:
· What the priorities are for our country,
· Which policies are best aligned to future prospects and which are not,
· Whether individual liberties and choice are more important than control at the centre
The report reveals that a clear national majority, across demographic lines, are in favour of policies that prioritise merit, value-for-money government spending, the expansion of choice in key services, and protected property rights.
This means that the majority of registered voters (including ANC) are very much in opposition to key government policies and adopted laws, particularly employment equity targets and expropriation without compensation.
Key Findings
- Job creation remains top national priority:
- Merit trumps race: A large majority of 84% support merit-based appointments to all jobs. This figure combines those who favour merit-only appointments (30.5%) and those who favour merit-based appointments with special training for people from previously disadvantaged groups (53.5%).
- Value-for-money trumps race-based procurement targets: A large majority of 81.7% want the state to buy from the best-priced supplier. This figure combines those who favour purely value-for-money procurement with no racial considerations (54.1%) and those who support value-for-money procurement with racial considerations acting merely as tiebreakers where two companies offer equal value for money (27.6%).
- Property rights trump expropriation without compensation: A substantive majority of 68.1% oppose the Expropriation Act signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in early 2025.
- Work trumps welfare: A large majority of 77.8% favour a government focus on job creation over expanded welfare support and grants.
- Choice trumps state-controlled empowerment policies: A large majority of 76.3% believe tax-funded voucher-based systems for housing, education, and health care would be more effective empowerment policies than current affirmative action and employment equity policies.
- ANC policy out of step with majority of its remaining supporters: On all policies investigated in this report, ANC government policies are out of step with the preferences of notable majorities (65-79%) of self-identified ANC supporters:
· 73% favour merit-based appointments to all jobs over race-based targets or quotas;
· 65% favour public procurement based on value-for-money considerations over racial targets;
· 79% oppose the Expropriation Act – which is higher than the national average;
· 78% favour a government focus on job creation over expanded welfare support and grants;
· 77% believe tax-funded voucher-based systems for housing, education, and health care would be more effective empowerment policies than current affirmative action and employment equity policies.
The BIG questions:
Why then is the ANC marching ahead with a new rash of laws when the majority of South Africans don’t support them?
- Why the new Equity targets?
- Why the EWC Act (Expropriation without Compensation)?
- Why the UIF Act (Unemployment Insurance Fund)?
- Why BELA (Basic Education Laws Amendment)?
- Why talk of BIG (Basic Income Grant)?
- Why BBBEE the dominant determinant of Procurement preference?
The answer, in my view, is that Government Leadership is still wedded to archaic Marxist, Socialist ideology, whereas voters across all political spectrums are not, and increasingly so.
If the GNU is to have any chance of success, it must change course, focus on what voters want, be ready for a massive decline in ANC support and a be ready to negotiate a stable coalition strategy
EXAMPLES: A graph is worth a 1000 words (I will display a few of the graphs to illustrate just how much the political leadership rhetoric differs from voter choice)
Look at party political voter support regardless of the political rhetoric of their leaders
Graph 1: What should be the top Priorities for the Government?
Look at the top 4 vs the bottom 4!
Look at party political voter support regardless of the political rhetoric of their leaders
Merit trumps race – Who should be appointed to jobs in SA?
Procurement: Value for money or BBBEE?
More Social Grants, maybe a Basic Income Grant or More Job Creation?
Conclusion
As Hermann Pretorius says: “South Africans could hardly speak more clearly: they want policies and politics that unlock job creation, reward merit, hunt for every cent of value, safeguard what people own, and put real choices on such vital issues as education, housing, and health care directly into their hands. Across race, age, income and party lines this consensus is overwhelming.
Parties, policymakers, businesses, and citizens now face a straightforward choice: realign around that centre of gravity or persist with projects voters regard as wasteful, unfair, or threatening?
For the ANC the warning lights flash red. Unless the party rewrites its economic script around large-scale job creation, clean and competitive tendering, secure property rights and choice-based citizen-level empowerment, it risks turning a 2024 electoral defeat into a 2026/7 rejection followed by a wholesale 2029 rout.
The DA is on the whole broadly aligned with much of public sentiment on property rights, value- for-money procurement, and merit-driven employment. Its strategic gap is a combination of credibility and accessibility: the party must build on what voters perceived as a successful utilisation of its position in government and Parliament to oppose the proposed increase in VAT.
Source:
May 2025
