Survey finds corruption, unemployment undermine public trust

Corruption, the rising cost of living, and unemployment were identified as contributing factors to the rapid decline in public trust in democracy.

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the IEC released their latest study on Tuesday, which measured voter sentiment ahead of the upcoming local government elections.

Among the key findings was that a majority of South Africans no longer had confidence in democracy to change their lives, with only 36% of participants expressing trust.

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The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with citizens aged 16 years and older across all provinces.

The council’s research director, Dr Ben Roberts, said most adult citizens were dissatisfied with the country’s economic situation.

"We can see that between 73% and 82% of participants said that over the last five years, corruption, cost of living, inflationary pressure, unemployment, crime, and safety had indeed worsened. In the case of service delivery, it’s slightly less acute, surprisingly, so it’s about 59%. It got worse over the last five years, with the biggest segment saying it’s remained unchanged," said Roberts.