Western Cape - State of the Province Report February 2010
The Western Cape was one of the key battleground provinces in the 2009 election and has traditionally been a highly competitive electoral arena. After much comings and goings in the Office of the Premier, things have finally settled down and Helen Zille's Provincial Government is enjoying higher ratings than its predecessor.
"A key finding of the survey is that the Provincial Government in the Western Cape is enjoying broad based approval from DA, ANC and COPE supporters - a much needed multi-party support base from which to tackle the many challenges facing the province in 2010. It is clear that the leadership battle within the Western Cape ANC had an extremely negative impact on approval ratings for the Office of the Premier and the Provincial Government. These ratings are now starting to improve under the leadership of the DA," said Helen Macdonald, a political analyst at Ipsos Markinor.
Summary of findings:
Performance ratings for both the Premier and the Provincial Government have improved drastically since Helen Zille and the Democratic Alliance were elected to run the province.
The Provincial Government enjoys support across the board and over 60% of DA, ANC and COPE supporters feel the Provincial Government is performing well.