Former president Jacob Zuma is campaigning for the newly-formed MK Party. Picture: Timothy Bernard, Independent Newspapers
FORMER president Jacob Zuma’s newly formed political movement, MK Party, could acquire some of the ANC’s support base in the upcoming election, as new polling shows that Msholozi is a highly favoured candidate in KwaZulu-Natal.
A poll conducted by the Social Research Foundation (SRF) explored the popularity of Zuma in KZN and South Africa at large, and also explored which president KZN voters thought was the best.
The data from the poll showed that black voters in KZN considered Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma to be of the same value for the province.
For the national perspective on Zuma, 1,412 registered voters were questioned, while 2,432 registered voters from KZN participated in the survey.
Participants were asked to describe the former president based on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being a very cold unfavourable feeling, 50 being not particularly warm or cold and 100 being a very warm favourable feeling.
From a national perspective, the data showed that Zuma is favoured by 29% of black voters, 15% of Indian voters and 2% of coloured voters and 22% overall.
In KZN, 63% of black voters are “very favourable” of Zuma, so are 6% of Indian voters and 1% of white voters.
With regards to which president was the best for KZN, 47% of all races thought Nelson Mandela was the best for the province, while Zuma was voted the next best president for the coastal province.
Mandela was the most favoured president amongst the Indian population, with 75% of voters citing Madiba as the best, while 1% thought Zuma was the best for the province.
Madiba was also the most favoured president among the black, white and coloured race groups.
No coloured voters thought Zuma was the best for KZN while 7% of white voters thought he was.
Both Zuma and Mandela scored 43% with regards to who was the best for KZN during their tenure among black voters.
The poll had a five percent margin of error.
“The data reveals that Jacob Zuma’s favourability score is 28.9% amongst all registered voters on a national level and 63.1% amongst all registered voters in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Beware that favourability does not easily translate into electoral support in the absence of an extremely strong party infrastructure,” the SRF report said.
“The Foundation’s estimate is that Mr Zuma’s new political venture might at best shave just a few political points from the ANC’s support base.”
Zuma, the former president of the ANC, has recently withdrawn his support for the ruling party and formed his own party to claim back the political prowess he once wielded in office of the president.
But since the launch of the MK Party, ANC heavyweights including Bheki Cele and Fikile Mbalula have launched attacks on Zuma, calling him power hungry to some degree.
WATCH: ANC NEC member and Minister of Police, Bheki Cele mocking former President Jacob Zuma. Cele says the way Zuma like positions, he even look for them in the mud. He added that he won't be surprised to see Zuma becoming a councillor. pic.twitter.com/vn76Pm1Nro
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) February 11, 2024
During a political event over the weekend, Cele was seen mocking Zuma and said he would not be surprised if he became a councillor.
Mbalula, the secretary-general of the, told the media over the weekend that ANC members who joined Zuma’s party were “a problem” for the ruling party.
But Mbalula said Zuma was welcome back in the ruling party if he wanted to return.