Afrobarometer: Round II Survey of South Africa, 2002

The Afrobarometer project was designed to assess attitudes
toward democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan
African nations, and to track the evolution of such attitudes in those
nations over time. This particular survey was concerned with the
attitudes and opinions of the citizens of South Africa. Respondents
were asked to rate South Africa's President Mbeki and his
administration's overall performance, and to state the most important
issues facing the nation. Opinions were gathered on the role of the
government in improving the economy, whether corruption existed in
local and national government, whether government officials were
responsive to problems of the general population, and whether local
government officials, the police, the courts, the overall criminal
justice system, the media, the Independent National Electoral
Commission, and the government broadcasting service could be
trusted. Respondents were polled on their knowledge of government
officials, their level of personal involvement in political,
governmental, and community affairs, and the inclusiveness of the
government. Respondents were asked to grade the way the country was
governed under Apartheid, the current system of government, and the
political system of the country as they expected it to be in 10 years.
Economic questions addressed the past, present, and future of the
country's and the respondent's economic condition, and whether great
income disparities are fair. Societal questions addressed whether
everyone should be responsible for themselves and their own success or
failure, what characteristics respondents used to identify themselves,
whether it was easy to obtain assistance with securing food, water,
schooling, and medical services, and by what methods respondents did
so. Background variables include age, language spoken most at home,
education, current employment status, employment status over the last
12 months, employment history, family financial situation over the
last 12 months, monetary support system, whether a close friend or
relative had died from AIDS, language used in interview, sex,
ethnicity, religious affiliation, religious participation, type of
physical disability (if any), type of housing, and respondent's
attitude during the interview.