EFF advocates for borderless Africa, but its supporters mistrust foreigners – survey reveals

A new study shows South Africans don’t trust foreigners from Africa and signs of new xenophobia are showing.

The study was undertaken by market research company Ipsos on behalf of the Inclusive Society Institute. Nearly 3 600 people aged 18 and above were surveyed.

The report indicates that of the supporters of the top three political parties surveyed, Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – which advocates for a borderless Africa – led the pack when it came to mistrust of African immigrants.

Although still alarmingly high, ANC supporters who participated in the study were the most trusting and the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) were in between. Of the minority parties, politically conservative Freedom Front Plus supporters were the most trusting; the Inkatha Freedom Party’s followers were the least trusting of African immigrants.

Trust in immigrants

As was the case in the previous poll, in all but the Free State, a majority of respondents said they did not trust immigrants from Africa very much or at all. The Northern Cape reflected a dramatic decline in trust in the immigrants.

“There is not enough trust in South Africa to sufficiently underpin social cohesion,” the study noted. “But when it comes to the alarmingly high level of mistrust in immigrants from Africa, the country should tread carefully.”

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Early signs of xenophobic instability show in sporadic incidents, it said.

“The lack of trust runs across most dimensions, be it race, gender, age, education, income or political party. The poll shows that no progress has been made in improving the relationship between South Africans and immigrants from Africa,” it said.

The poll described the situation as “disquieting”.

“This … presents a sociopolitical risk within an environment which is prone to xenophobic confrontation,” the study noted.

Men and women

The GovDem Poll, as it is called, indicates that overall, only 31.21% (previous poll: 31.23%) of respondents said they completely trusted or somewhat trusted immigrants from African countries, with only a slight differentiation between men and women.

On the other hand, 62.72% (previously 62.62%) of the male and 62.37% (62.63%) of female respondents did not trust immigrants very much or at all, while 6.07% did not indicate either way.

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The survey participants were polled according to race, education, age and earnings, political party and province. A whopping 79.82% (previously 57.9%) of Indian respondents and 61.67% (54.87%) of coloured respondents do not trust immigrants from Africa very much or at all.

The poll suggests the level of trust in immigrants from Africa remained more or less in line with the results from the previous poll – 60.29% and 62.57% of white and black respondents respectively.

The survey found 65.81% (from 68.27%) of respondents with some high schooling either did not trust immigrants very much or at all. With matriculants, the situation improved to 61.66%, while it increased for those with higher education to 61.18%.

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“Earnings did not appear to make much of a difference in respondents’ attitudes, although there was a slight reduction as people’s earnings increased.

“The outlier was those with no earnings were far more trusting of immigrants from Africa.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za