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What do we Know about Race Relations on Freedom Day?

Incidents of racism regularly make headlines in South Africa, politicians blame each other of racism and civil actions are described as “racist”… but how do South Africans of different race groups feel about each other? How do they interpret the headlines? And how do they see the future of our multiracial country?

South Africans’ belief in a happy future for all races in the country has deteriorated over the last year, following the same pattern as many other social, economic and political indicators in the country. The latest findings are in sharp contrast with earlier measurements when two-thirds of adults were looking forward to a happy future for all races. The latest findings are similar to those of the period from November 2012 to November 2013.

However, the situation is not (yet) dire as almost six in every ten adults (57%) expressed confidence in a happy future for all races in South Africa in a survey conducted in November last year. This survey was the latest in the series of Socio-Political Trends™ studies undertaken by Ipsos every six months.  (For more information see “Technical Detail”.)  These studies provide insight into the public opinion in the country and form part of the Pulse of the People™ studies.

Looking at the detail of the findings from November 2016, we see that only three in every twenty adults (14%) are despondent about the future:

South Africans younger than 50 look at the future with more hope and black people are far more confident than the other major race groups.  Interesting is that those working full-time are a lot more confident than unemployed people and confidence is highest in the more rural provinces of Limpopo and North West.

A question closely related to this one is: “Would you say the relationship between the different races in our country is improving, remaining the same or deteriorating/getting worse?” Just more than half (51%) say that the relationship is remaining the same, whereas almost three in every ten (29%) say that it is improving and a fifth (20%) believe race relationships are deteriorating.
In this case, 30% of both blacks and whites agree that the relationship between different races is improving, while coloureds (23%) and Indians (17%) are less optimistic. Again, those working full-time are more optimistic than unemployed people, with 37% of full-time workers say that relationships are improving, while only 24% of unemployed people agree.

Roughly a third of South Africans living in the more rural province of Limpopo and the very populous provinces of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal think that race relations are improving. (Majorities say that race relations are remaining the same.)

South Africans are very aware of the difficult process of creating one united South African nation out of the different groups in the country and almost half (46%) think that this is an impossible endeavour. About a quarter of adult South Africans of all races, however, feel that nation-building can be achieved.

At the same time, almost six in every ten (58%) South Africans are saying that the government is failing with the nation-building project.

Technical Detail

During 2016 Ipsos South Africa conducted three large-scale Khayabus (Omnibus) studies. The third Khayabus, conducted from 25 October to 28 November 2016 involved a total of 3,416 South Africans, 18 years and older. Randomly selected respondents were interviewed face-to-face in their homes and home languages. Interviews were conducted all over the country, from metropolitan areas to deep rural areas. This methodology ensured that the results are representative of the views of the universe and that findings can be weighted and projected to the universe – i.e. South Africans 18 years and older.

Trained quantitative fieldworkers from all population groups were responsible for the interviewing and CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing) was used. All results were collated and analysed in an aggregate format to protect the identity and confidentiality of respondents.
All sample surveys are subject to a margin of error, determined by sample size, sampling methodology and response rate. The sample error for the sample as a whole at a 95% confidence level is a maximum of 1.63%.

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