South Africa: Democracy On Shaky Ground in South Africa As Dissatisfaction With Its Functioning Abounds

17 April 2026
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Asafika Mpako and Stephen Ndoma

Majorities reject dictatorship and one-party rule, but fewer than half are opposed to military rule.

Key findings

  • About half (49%) of South Africans say democracy is preferable to all other forms of government.
  • The share of democrats is up from 2021 (40%), but it remains well below the 2011 level (72%).
  • Majorities reject one-person rule (62%) and one-party rule (56%), but fewer than half (42%) oppose military rule.
  • Six in 10 citizens (61%) say elections are the best way to choose their leaders.
  • A similar proportion (58%) say the country needs many political parties to give voters a real choice in who governs them.
  • But four in 10 respondents (40%) say political parties are divisive and the country doesn't need many of them, up from 25% in 2011.
  • Only three in 10 citizens (31%) say their country is "a full democracy" or "a democracy with minor problems," and a similar proportion (29%) say they are "fairly satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the way their democracy is working. Both assessments have worsened considerably over the past decade.
  • Across 38 African countries that Afrobarometer surveyed in 2024/2025, South Africans rank 10th in the level of dissatisfaction with democracy.
  • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of South Africans say citizens should be free to join any political organisation they want, and most (84%) feel "somewhat free" or "completely free" to do so.
  • There is strong public support for media freedom and the media's watchdog role: More than seven in 10 survey participants believe the media should be free to publish without government interference (72%) and agree that the media should "constantly investigate and report on government mistakes and corruption" (76%).
  • A majority (61%) see South Africa's media as free to report and comment on the news without censorship or government interference.

Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines

After the collapse of apartheid, the African National Congress (ANC) was electorally dominant for 30 years, consistently winning majorities in national elections. Analysts say the ANC provided political stability for a country that was riven by racial, ethnic, and tribal divisions, but also relied on clientelism, corruption, and patronage networks to enrich a political class, which has hollowed out state capacity and threatened the foundations of its democracy (Walsh & Mnyandu, 2023).

According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2025), South Africa is a mid-level performer on rights, rule of law, and participation measures, and a high performer on representation. But corruption is a sticky problem: Transparency International's (2026) Corruption Perceptions Index rates South Africa worse than the global average on public-sector corruption. Despite the adoption of numerous anti-corruption measures in recent years, the country has failed to improve its score on the index. According to civil society watchdogs, this stagnation reflects a failure to successfully prosecute actors who are guilty of graft (Paulsen, 2026).

Despite being Africa's largest and most industrialised economy, South Africa has struggled to sufficiently grow its economy and rein in its high levels of unemployment, poverty, and inequality (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2025). The youth bear the brunt of the unemployment crisis: 44% of 15- to 34-year-olds in the labour force are jobless (National Youth Development Agency, 2026).

This dispatch explores South Africans' views of and attitudes toward democracy, based on Afrobarometer's Round 10 (2025) survey.

Findings show that only about half of citizens prefer democracy to any other form of government, though the share of democracy supporters has been rising since 2021 after a precipitous drop over the previous decade. Majorities of South Africans reject one-person and one-party rule, but fewer than half are opposed to military rule. (For findings on attitudes toward the military, see Visser (2026).)

Majorities support elections as the best way to choose their leaders and say that many political parties are needed so that voters have real choices in who governs them.

But only three in 10 respondents think their country is "a full democracy" or "a democracy with minor problems," and seven in 10 report dissatisfaction with the way their democracy is working. Across 38 countries surveyed by Afrobarometer in 2024/2025, South Africa ranks 10th for its level of dissatisfaction with democracy.

Majorities of citizens endorse freedom of association, freedom of the press, and the media's role as a watchdog over government. In practice, more than eight in 10 respondents say they are "somewhat free" or "completely free" to join any political organisation, and six in 10 believe that South Africa's media is largely free.

Asafika Mpako Asafika is the communications coordinator for Southern Africa

Stephen Ndoma Stephen is the assistant project manager for Southern Africa

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2026 Afrobarometer. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.