Survey shows 38 percent want nationalisation

Some 38 percent of South Africans believe that mines should be nationalised, according to a survey of 2000 people released on Monday.

"The level of agreement differed considerably by race, showing that this could be a very divisive issue," said TNS Research Surveys in a statement.

"In a survey of 2000 residents of South Africa's metropolitan areas conducted in February 2011... [it was] revealed that 38 percent of metro adults feel that South Africa's mines should be nationalised.

"TNS said that 28 percent disagreed and a considerable 34 percent gave a 'don't know' response -– a much higher 'don't know' response than usual, suggesting that the pros and cons of the issue have yet to be fully explicated to people."

The research found that black South Africans were more in favour of the idea than whites.
"Amongst those venturing an opinion, blacks are in favour by more than two to one, whilst whites are not in favour by almost three to one, with an absolute majority being negative (56 percent).

"For the other two race groups, opinions are equally divided. This is clearly a difficult and potentially emotive issue."

Afrikaans-speaking people were the most negative about the idea while Tswana speakers were the most positive.

Source: Time Live