Race no longer structures SA electorate’s values or priorities – IRR

Race still influences daily life in South Africa, but it no longer structures the electorate’s values or priorities.

This is the key conclusion of the third and final report on the latest polling by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).

Report 3: Race and Race Relations in South Africa Today is based on responses in a survey of 807 geographically and demographically representative registered voters* between 27 March to 3 April this year. The first two reports were Report 1: The Political State of Play as of April 2025, and Report 2: Policy Preferences of Registered Voters.

All three reports were written by Head of Strategic Communications Hermann Pretorius.

In the latest report – launched in a webinar this morning – Pretorius notes that the results show that the “hierarchy of concerns” for South Africans “is decisively deracialised”.

“Jobs, corruption, and crime dominate public priorities; racism and BEE scarcely register. Three-quarters believe inequality will diminish through education and work. Overwhelming majorities back merit in appointments, value in procurement, and excellence in sport.”

The report argues that “(r)acism exists as a social reality, but it has lost credibility as a political explanation”.

Pretorius writes: “South Africans define fairness and justice in non-racial, competence-driven terms. This consensus carries direct consequences. The ANC’s continued reliance on race-based quotas, procurement targets, and expropriation policy is not only misaligned with minority voters but opposed by majorities within its own base.

“Persisting on this path accelerates estrangement from the electorate and risks turning electoral decline into collapse. Opposition parties cannot assume advantage by default: the DA, EFF, and MK each face the test of proving that their rhetoric can be matched by delivery on jobs, security, and competence.

“The conclusion is therefore unavoidable: South Africa’s electorate has deracialised, while its political class has not.

“Race remains a lived experience, but it is no longer the axis on which issues ought to be decided. Political and societal actors who fail to adapt to this reality will not only misgovern, but sacrifice social standing and put at risk their own survival.”

The key findings are:

• Race relations since 1994 present a mixed but ultimately hopeful picture. While 46% of respondents believe race relations have improved, 36% think they have worsened and 18% say they have stayed the same. Despite these differences, 84% of all respondents, including 80% of black voters, agree that the different races in South Africa “need each other for progress”;
• While racism is experienced on the ground, its political use is widely rejected. Nearly half of South Africans (48%) report personal encounters with racism. Yet three-quarters (76%) agree that “talk of racism and colonialism is used by politicians to excuse their failures,” with this view shared by 73% of black respondents and 91% of whites;
• There is a clear link between higher experiences of racism and racialised policies like BEE and employment equity. Those segments of the South African population, by race, employment status, and income, most likely to be subjected to racialised policies like BEE and employment equity targets report higher than average personal experiences of racism. Despite broad societal goodwill, the shadow of race-based policies looms ever larger in the experience of racism in South Africa;
• National priorities are firmly deracialised. When asked to name their two most pressing concerns, respondents overwhelmingly chose socio-economic priorities such as jobs (38%), corruption (10%), and crime (9%). By contrast, only 2% cited racism and 4% mentioned BEE. There is significant overlap in terms of these priorities across demographic groups;
• On racial inequality, the consensus is that progress will come through opportunity, not racial engineering. A strong majority of 73% agree that “with better education and more jobs, the present inequality between the races will steadily disappear,” a belief shared across all groups: 71% of blacks, 78% of coloureds, 80% of Indians, and 83% of whites;
• Competition through merit rather than racial quotas is preferred and considered fair. On government appointments, 84% favour merit-based selection, whether with training for the disadvantaged (53%) or merit alone (31%). In procurement, 54% prefer value-for-money contracts, while only 17% back racial preference even at higher cost. In sport, 92% want national teams chosen on merit, not race quotas, and
• Even within the ANC’s own supporters, voters diverge from the party’s aggressive race-based policies. Among ANC supporters, 73% favour merit-based appointments over quotas and 65% prefer value-for-money procurement over racial targets. These results highlight how far the electorate’s instincts are removed from racial engineering, and how far ANC policy has drifted from the preferences of its voters.

*The IRR notes that the diverse respondent pool “ensures a robust and representative dataset, allowing for nuanced analysis of South Africans’ perceptions across regions, age groups, and socio-economic statuses”.

The survey polled the opinions of 807 registered voters from a diverse cross section of society. Respondents were drawn from all nine provinces, with the highest representation from Gauteng (23.5%) and KwaZulu-Natal (19%).

• Most (35.2%) were aged between 45 and 64, and 18.9% were aged 65 or older;
• Most lived on tribal land and or in township areas, 37.1% and 30.3% respectively;
• Most spoke isiZulu (22%), followed by isiXhosa (18.9%), Afrikaans (12.4%) Sesotho (12.2%) and English (10.5%)
• Most were seeking work (39.7%), 15.7% were retired and 15.6% were employed in the formal sector, and
• Most earned between R2,000 and R8,000 a month (57.7%).

The results have a margin of error of ±4% at a 95% confidence level.

Media contact: Hermann Pretorius IRR Head of Strategic Communications Tel: 079 875 4290 Email: hermann@irr.org.za

Media enquiries:

Anneke Burns

IRR Public Relations

+27 71 423 0079

anneke@abpr.co.za