New poll finds support for South Africa's ruling ANC is plunging

More bad news for South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress (ANC) after a new opinion poll shows that support for the party is plunging.

The poll, conducted by the Social Research Foundation, suggested that the party may garner as little as 37 per cent of the vote on 29 May.

It also found that disgraced former President Jacob Zuma’s new party, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), could become the country’s third biggest after next month’s election.

It was officially registered in September last year and poll found it may get as much as 13 per cent of the vote, with the main opposition Democratic Alliance winning 25 per cent.

Zuma is the de facto leader of MK which he joined last year after denouncing the ANC which he once led, ruling the country from 2009 to 2018 when he was forced out of office following a series of corruption scandals.

In 2021, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission probing corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during his presidential term.

On Tuesday, the Electoral Court ruled Zuma could contest the elections despite a provision in the Constitution that bars candidates who have received a 12-month or more prison sentence.

In the 2019 election, the ANC won 57,5 per cent the vote, its lowest since taking power in 1994.

A result below 50 per cent would mean it would be forced to enter into a coalition with smaller parties to govern the country.

A recent poll by think-tank The Brenthurst Foundation and the SABI Strategy Group estimated support for the ANC at 39 per cent.

The survey's credibility was however questioned by South Africa's third largest force in parliament, the EFF.

Indeed, as parties declare funding to the Independent Electoral Commission, it was revealed that the family of the founders of the The Brenthurst Foundation - the Oppenheimers - were listed are major donors to DA, the country's first opposition party.

Support for the ANC has been dwindling amid economic stagnation, high unemployment, corruption scandals, severe power outages, and rampant crime.