In a recent survey conducted by consumer insights company Pondering Panda, it was found that young South Africans feel that corruption in government is getting worse, but support the DA’s call for the naming and shaming of corrupt politicians as a way of combating it. 4197 respondents, aged between 18 and 34 were interviewed across South Africa, and asked about their perceptions of corruption, and how to best fight it. 69% of respondents felt there was more corruption in government now than a year ago, 18% felt it was at about the same level, and 8% felt there was less corruption.
When asked if they thought letting everyone know the names of politicians guilty of corruption would make a difference, 58% believed there would be less corruption if this were the case, while 38% thought such action wouldn’t have any effect. The remainder of respondents were unsure about the impact it would have.
The perceptions regarding corruption, and how to stop it, were broadly held across all demographic groups.
Shirley Wakefield, spokesperson for Pondering Panda said, “It’s clear that young people see government as stuck in a spiral of corruption, and would welcome any measure that helps stop it. As our other surveys have shown, young people feel corruption affects them directly, because it diverts money into the pockets of corrupt politicians and officials – money which could otherwise be used to improve education, infrastructure and create job opportunities. Young South Africans support the naming and shaming of corrupt politicians, but the fact that almost 2 in 5 think it won’t change anything shows that there is a significant lack of faith in the government.”
All interviews were carried out on cellphones between the 26th of February and the 4th of March, across South Africa. Responses were weighted to be nationally representative in terms of age, gender and race.
Amongst SA youth who don’t regularly get the news, 27% say it’s boring and 26% say it’s not easy to get for them
— Pondering Panda (@pandainsights) March 5, 2013
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