Latest news with #SocialAttitudesSurvey
IOL News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Trust in South African police hits record low, survey reveals
A recent survey revealed that trust in SAPS is at an all time low. The findings come amid a growing political crisis following damning allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. Police trust in South Africa has reached its lowest level in 27 years, according to a Social Attitudes Survey released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). The findings come amid a growing political crisis following damning allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. The survey shows that only 22% of South Africans expressed confidence in the police in 2022, with similarly low levels recorded in 2023 and 2024/25. This marks the worst confidence ratings since data collection began in 1998. 'A majority of the adult public never expressed trust in the police,' said Dr Benjamin Roberts, HSRC research director and principal investigator of the study. 'The findings are expected to inform interventions aimed at restoring public faith in the police. By adopting a more community-focused and accountable approach to policing, we can work towards creating safer and more secure communities for all South Africans.' Between 1998 and 2010, trust levels hovered between 39% and 42%. Confidence fell sharply after the 2012 Marikana massacre and dipped even lower following the July 2021 unrest, when only 27% of respondents expressed trust in the police, he said.
IOL News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Police Trust Crisis in South Africa: Only 22% of public confident in SAPS, survey finds
South African police trust hits 27-year low at 22%, according to HSRC survey, amid political scandal and corruption allegations. New inquiry aims to restore public confidence and ensure accountability within law enforcement. Image: File Police trust in South Africa has reached its lowest level in 27 years, according to a Social Attitudes Survey released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on Monday. The findings come amid a growing political crisis following damning allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. The survey shows that only 22% of South Africans expressed confidence in the police in 2022, with similarly low levels recorded in 2023 and 2024/25. This marks the worst confidence ratings since data collection began in 1998. 'A majority of the adult public never expressed trust in the police,' said Dr Benjamin Roberts, HSRC research director and principal investigator of the study. 'The findings are expected to inform interventions aimed at restoring public faith in the police. By adopting a more community-focused and accountable approach to policing, we can work towards creating safer and more secure communities for all South Africans.' Trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS) has remained low for decades. Between 1998 and 2010, trust levels hovered between 39% and 42%. Confidence fell sharply after the 2012 Marikana massacre and dipped even lower following the July 2021 unrest, when only 27% of respondents expressed trust in the police, he said. Roberts, however, noted that confidence had almost returned to the 2011 level by the time of the 2015 survey round. He highlighted that the 2016 to 2020 period was characterised by modest fluctuation between 31% and 35%. ''The hard COVID-19 lockdown experience, which included instances of police brutality in enforcing lockdown regulations, did not appear to have had an aggregate effect on confidence levels based on the 2020 survey results. ''In 2021, public trust in the police dipped to a low of 27%. This appears to be linked to the July 2021 social unrest. Many criticised the poor performance of the police during the unrest. This was followed by a further 5 percentage point decline to 22% in 2022, with the 2023 and 2024/25 confidence levels almost unchanged, which may reflect increasing rates for certain crimes.'' The situation worsened in 2022, dropping to 22%, a historic low that has not recovered. 'The 2022, 2023, and 2024/25 figures are the lowest recorded in 27 years,' the HSRC report states. The release of the survey coincided with a major political scandal involving allegations of corruption and interference in police operations. At a press briefing in Durban on July 6, 2025, Mkhwanazi accused Mchunu of disbanding a task team investigating political killings. He alleged that over 121 sensitive case dockets were removed and shelved, and claimed that Mchunu and other senior officials were protecting a syndicate involving politicians, police, prosecutors, and members of the judiciary. Mchunu denied the allegations, dismissing Mkhwanazi's claims as "baseless and without evidence." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ In response to the fallout, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday announced the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the allegations. Ramaphosa placed Mchunu on immediate leave and appointed Professor Firoz Cachalia as acting Minister of Police. Cachalia is expected to officially take up the post in August. Ramaphosa has tasked Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga with heading the commission, alongside senior advocates Sesi Baloyi and Sandile Khumalo. He stated that the inquiry would probe allegations that criminal networks have infiltrated police, intelligence, and prosecutorial agencies, manipulated investigations, and targeted whistleblowers. The commission will have powers to recommend suspensions, refer cases for urgent criminal investigation, and propose institutional reforms. The inquiry is expected to deliver interim reports after three and six months, with a final report submitted to Ramaphosa, the Speaker of the National Assembly, and the Chief Justice. It will also assess existing oversight mechanisms, recommend disciplinary action and prosecutions, and suggest broader reforms to rebuild public trust in law enforcement. 'These allegations, if proven true, threaten to undermine public confidence in the ability of the police service and other arms of the state to perform their duties without fear or favour,' Ramaphosa said. The HSRC survey and the ongoing political crisis within SAPS highlight the depth of the legitimacy challenges facing law enforcement in South Africa. With trust in the police at its lowest recorded level in nearly three decades, efforts to rebuild confidence remain urgent. 'We hope that this work will be used to design interventions to restore the public's faith in the police,'' said Roberts. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. IOL Politics
The Herald Scotland
28-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Maybe we can start talking about the issue we've been ignoring
A commentary on the new survey written by Sir John Curtice (love him, who doesn't) delves into some of the stuff that might be going on with the figures. The public are well aware of Britain's problems, he says; indeed, lots of them are feeling it directly. But Sir John also says that rather than turning their backs on the state, for the most part the public are still inclined to look to government to provide solutions. They also feel that most people on low and middle incomes are paying enough tax already but suspect some of the better-off could pay more. If the people who run the survey had asked me for my opinion, I would have said pretty much the same thing. However, it's the consequences of all this for the political parties that really interests me because the public's view of how it's working now is remarkable. For example, just 19% think the current system of governing Britain needs little or no improvement. As for trust in government, only 12% trust it to put the country's interests before party interests 'just about always' or 'most of the time'. This is even lower than the previous record low of 14% in 2023. It's bad. The specifics of the findings are particularly troubling for Labour. The report says only 30% of people in what sociologists call semi-routine and routine occupations voted Labour, compared with 42% in professional and managerial jobs. To put it another way, Labour won the election but failed to reconnect with its traditional base of working-class voters, which is a big change. The working-class Tory and the posho socialist have always been a thing, but broadly speaking, support for political parties in this country has always been pretty much in line with social class. Now the traditional class-based support for parties is breaking down. Read more Tunnock's is being blamed for society's problems. Step away from the teacakes Are you 'upset'? The dangers of flags in Scottish schools These are the latest plans at the Glasgow School of Art. Really? The Social Attitudes Survey suggests that one of the new alternative influences on voting could be age: only 6% of 18 to 24-year-olds voted Tory compared to 36% of those aged 65 and over. But the age factor isn't new really: young people have always been drawn more to the left before tending to become conservative as they grow older. Again, there have always been exceptions – the teenage Tory like William Hague in the 70s or the ageing socialist with a mortgage and an ISA – but on the whole, oldies are less likely to be lefties. Education as a factor is also hard to pin down. The Attitudes Survey says just 5% of graduates voted for Reform compared with 25% of those with less than an A level or equivalent, but this isn't a completely different issue from class if we consider how levels of education are broadly linked to background. And we know Reform is polling better than Labour among working-class voters. A recent YouGov poll found that among the social and economic groups C2DE – I hate all this pseudo-scientific terminology but it's hard to avoid – Reform has around 30% support compared to 20% for Labour. In other words, it's class that's the factor here. Even the Attitudes Survey's results on the culture war and 'equalities' issues follows the same sort of pattern. The survey says people with liberal attitudes on culture war and equalities issues mostly voted Labour (53%), Lib Dem (17%) or Green (14%) while those with more conservative views were more likely to support the Tories (32%) or Reform (28%). You could take issue with the terms liberal and conservative here, but the survey's conclusion is that the way people vote reflects their views on culture war issues – trans, gender, race, DEI, all that – just as much as where they stand in the traditional debate between left and right. Nigel Farage of Reform (Image: Ben Birchall) But again, it's all about class. Is it any surprise that identity politics focused on gender and race has failed to catch on in working class communities when they're the ones dealing with the effects of economic inequality based on class? Thanks to multiple reports from the Social Mobility Commission, and the fact that we can see it for ourselves every day, we know that although only 7% of the population is privately educated, they're dominant in politics, business and the media. And yet when it comes to diversity quotas or lessons on DEI, social class doesn't get a mention. There are at least some people talking about it though. The Education Select Committee did a good report on the subject in 2021 in which they said ideas such as 'white privilege' were the opposite to what disadvantaged white children experience and were alienating to working class communities. They hear all the talk about their privilege and they don't hear much talk about how disadvantage affects their lives and, as we can see in the Attitudes Survey, it's started to have an effect on how they vote. Bottom line: class. Where we need to go from here would seem obvious then. As the survey points out, trust in government and party politics is low. The connection between Labour and its traditional working-class base has also been severed and it won't be restored while politicians and commentators, with that Nelsonian blindness, are talking about other things instead. Reform are scooping up votes because they're benefitting from voters who feel ignored. So stop ignoring them. Start talking seriously about economic inequality. Start suggesting solutions (it might be taxing the better-off more, who knows). But above all, start talking about what's really going on here: class, class, class.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Housing insecurity making Manx under-40s unhappy
Access to housing and money worries have been cited as reasons behind making some people on the Isle of Man less happy, according to an island-wide study. The Social Attitudes Survey 2024 found that people on average were "moderately to very happy and satisfied with their lives". But there were "significant disparities between the different age groups", in particular "those under 40 are significantly less satisfied or happy". The report said this tied in with answers around financial security and housing accessibility. Compiled by Statistics Isle of Man, the survey is the first of its kind since the Covid pandemic put the exercise on an indefinite hiatus in 2020. Previously, a social attitudes survey had been conducted annually from 2016 by the Economic Affairs Division of the Cabinet Office, which was replaced by Statistics Isle of Man in 2021. The report noted that those under 40 experiencing lower levels of happiness was a "pattern seen elsewhere in the world". It said "greater financial and housing insecurity", as well as a "sense of anxiety concerning global affairs" was negatively impacting lives in other areas. In the local study, almost a quarter of respondents said accessing housing was "difficult or very difficult". And one in five people said finding suitable employment was "challenging". While more than 45% of people said they were "able to live comfortably on their present income", 40% of people described themselves as "coping". Meanwhile 14.6% said they were "finding it difficult or very difficult" on their current incomes. Again, the data showed that "a considerably larger percentage" of the under 40 age group found it difficult to make ends meet. It showed more than 6% of households had gone without a number of basic needs, including sufficient heating, fresh fruit and vegetables, or a cooked meal each day. The most common issue was going without heating, experienced by 13.6% of households. And more than 2% reported accessing the Isle of Man's food bank in the last 12 months. Elsewhere the report showed the "vast majority" of people felt safe in their neighbourhoods, supported inward migration, and felt a "strong sense of emotional attachment" to the island. The survey was sent to about 3,000 Manx households, and it had a response rate of between 15 and17%. Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X? You can also send story ideas to IsleofMan@ Survey canvases residents' opinions on Manx life Manx people lose confidence in public services Social Attitudes Survey 2024 Statistics Isle of Man Isle of Man Government
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Housing insecurity making Manx under-40s unhappy
Access to housing and money worries have been cited as reasons behind making some people on the Isle of Man less happy, according to an island-wide study. The Social Attitudes Survey 2024 found that people on average were "moderately to very happy and satisfied with their lives". But there were "significant disparities between the different age groups", in particular "those under 40 are significantly less satisfied or happy". The report said this tied in with answers around financial security and housing accessibility. Compiled by Statistics Isle of Man, the survey is the first of its kind since the Covid pandemic put the exercise on an indefinite hiatus in 2020. Previously, a social attitudes survey had been conducted annually from 2016 by the Economic Affairs Division of the Cabinet Office, which was replaced by Statistics Isle of Man in 2021. The report noted that those under 40 experiencing lower levels of happiness was a "pattern seen elsewhere in the world". It said "greater financial and housing insecurity", as well as a "sense of anxiety concerning global affairs" was negatively impacting lives in other areas. In the local study, almost a quarter of respondents said accessing housing was "difficult or very difficult". And one in five people said finding suitable employment was "challenging". While more than 45% of people said they were "able to live comfortably on their present income", 40% of people described themselves as "coping". Meanwhile 14.6% said they were "finding it difficult or very difficult" on their current incomes. Again, the data showed that "a considerably larger percentage" of the under 40 age group found it difficult to make ends meet. It showed more than 6% of households had gone without a number of basic needs, including sufficient heating, fresh fruit and vegetables, or a cooked meal each day. The most common issue was going without heating, experienced by 13.6% of households. And more than 2% reported accessing the Isle of Man's food bank in the last 12 months. Elsewhere the report showed the "vast majority" of people felt safe in their neighbourhoods, supported inward migration, and felt a "strong sense of emotional attachment" to the island. The survey was sent to about 3,000 Manx households, and it had a response rate of between 15 and17%. Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X? You can also send story ideas to IsleofMan@ Survey canvases residents' opinions on Manx life Manx people lose confidence in public services Social Attitudes Survey 2024 Statistics Isle of Man Isle of Man Government
