Business Day, 27 May 1999
DURBAN - White and Indian supporters of opposition parties think their parties should play the role of a critical watchdog to the government while African National Congress (ANC) supporters believe such parties should assume a more "developmental and constructive" approach, a recent survey has shown.
Released yesterday, the survey on opposition parties conducted last month by the Institute for Multiparty Democracy, found that most respondents were disillusioned with the opposition parties' performances. Researcher S'fiso Mbuyiswa said only 38% of respondents thought the opposition helped the government do a better job.
Two other surveys by the institute, looking into tolerance in the province, as well as violence and intimidation, were also released. All of the three KwaZulu-Natal focused surveys involved 627 respondents, of which 53% were sampled in the metro area, 16% in other cities and towns and 31% in rural areas.
Political parties, mainly representatives of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the ANC, as well as some members of the media, were sceptical about the results of the surveys, persistently asking questions about what methodology was used.
In response, professor Hennie Kotze of the institute, said it seemed people did not like the results . "We only bring the message and if one looks at it, it is not such a good one in terms of tolerance and violence levels for KwaZulu-Natal."
However, Kotze said there was a huge decrease of political intolerance compared with 1994 but cautioned "we are out of the woods yet" .
On violence and intimidation, the survey found few respondents expected violence but fears of possible intimidation were still more widespread. Only 9% expected violence in the run up to elections while 67%who did not. More ANC than IFP supporters expected intimidation. About 46% of ANC and 68% of IFP supporters agreed that there would be no intimidation in the run up to elections .
The institute's researcher Mariam Seedat said if there was violence and intimidation, it would certainly have an effect on the voter turnout.
She said ANC and IFP supporters were more likely to receive tough treatment from their communities .
"It was clear that people from rural black communities expected significant higher levels of intimidation than other communities."
On intimidation, researcher Robin Richards said a pattern had emerged which showed that African respondents were less tolerant than whites and Indians. He said political parties with a majority African support base - the ANC, IFP and the United Democratic Movement - were less tolerant than traditionally white parties such as the New National Party and the Democratic Party.