South Africans back the National Convention to succeed

15 August 2023          

ActionSA concluded a substantial public survey that during the month of July which sought to engage the views of South Africans towards the multi-party National Convention taking place tomorrow and Thursday in Kempton Park.

The survey engaged 21 050 South Africans across all nine provinces and solicited their views on a wide variety of topics relating to the National Convention.

The survey found that:

92% of respondents recorded the view that the National Convention was a positive initiative that enjoyed their support.

Most respondents felt that the driving force for any agreement must focus on commonly-held solutions to the greatest challenges facing South Africans rather than opposing any one party – with the exception of the notion of unseating the ANC:

Common ground on solutions to grow the economy and creating jobs (83.8%).

Common ground on fighting crimes, drugs and corruption (82.4%).

Common ground on ending load shedding (81.9%).

A clear alternative direction for SA (81.7%).

80.2% of respondents do not separate the need to unseat the ANC from the solutions to address these challenges, demonstrating how the notion of removing the ANC from government is inseparable from fixing the challenges in South Africa.

86.8% of respondents believe that the Convention must add more political parties to form a broad church that achieves a majority in next year’s election.

The confidence in the multi-party group achieving a majority is highest in Gauteng (95.4%), KZN (86.5%), the North West (82.4%) and the Northern Cape (80.7%).

72.4% of respondents want a clear and unambiguous declaration that commits the parties to work together and rule out a coalition with the ANC.

What emerges from this exercise is that South Africans are positive about the multi-party Convention and see this exercise as an important step towards addressing the greatest challenges that confront them on a daily basis.

ActionSA has considered these outcomes which were deliberated upon by the Senate yesterday evening during which clear mandates were provided to ActionSA’s delegates attending the National Convention; ActionSA President, Herman Mashaba, ActionSA National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont, and ActionSA Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson, Athol Trollip.

ActionSA wishes to assure South Africans that their voices have been heard in this survey and that these strong views about the National Convention find expression over the two days. We remain positive about the prospects for a successful agreement to be reached, especially in light of South Africans' overwhelming views towards the need for this project to succeed.

Issued by Michael Beaumont, ActionSA National Chairperson, 15 August 2023