Almost two-thirds of adult Zimbabweans (64%) trust President Mugabe, according to Afrobarometer, a Pan African research group.
Latest findings by Afrobarometer also indicate that at least 36 percent distrust opposition parties. The organization almost registered the same results a few years ago. There are about 7.7 million adults in Zimbabwe with a population of over 13 million.
“There is more trust in the president in rural areas (69%) than urban centres (55%) claiming that they “somewhat” or “a lot” (trust the president). It is also important to note that the public trust the president (64%) more than they do the ruling party, Zanu-PF (56%).
Findings of the survey also show that “half of adult Zimbabweans (50%) reported that they trust the electoral management body, i.e. the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Masvingo province has the highest proportion of adult Zimbabweans (67%) who claim that they trust it “somewhat” or quite “a lot” with Bulawayo province having the least trust (28%).
At the same time, the findings indicate that almost three-quarters of adult Zimbabweans trust religious leaders and non-governmental organisations the most in the country.
The least-trusted institutions are the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and opposition political parties. “Thirty six percent of adult Zimbabweans say they don’t have trust in the opposition political parties. This data is from the latest Afrobarometer survey and is being released at a time when there is a proliferation of church organisations and much intra-party fights among the opposition political parties in Zimbabwe ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections.
“Religious leaders command “a lot” of trust among Zimbabweans with almost three quarters (72%) saying that they trust them while only a few adult Zimbabweans (32%) place faith in the opposition political parties.
On the other hand, the NGOs continue to play a critical role in terms of filling developmental gaps in areas where the government is financially constrained. “However, the relationship between the government and some of these NGOs (particularly those focusing on governance issues) have been far from rosy as the government has often accused them of pushing for regime change.”
The MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Joice Mujuru-led National People’s Party and the Welshman Ncube-led MDC in an attempt to unseat Zanu PF.
The Afrobarometer team in Zimbabwe, led by the Mass Public Opinion Institute, interviewed 1,200 adult Zimbabweans between 28 January and 10 February 2017. A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2% at a 95% confidence level.
Afrobarometer Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in Africa.