Source: Uncornered Market
JOHANNESBURG – The level of trust between Blacks and whites in South Africa is diminishing year on year, a survey released on Thursday found.
“Seventy-three percent of African respondents agreed, while 44 percent of whites also agreed,” Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) executive director professor David Everatt said.
“Black attitudes towards whites are hardening year on year, while whites have softened.”
The GCRO, a partnership between the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Gauteng government, and the South African Local Government Association, conducted a study with over 25 000 people to gauge satisfaction levels with governance in Gauteng province.
At least 60 respondents per ward were sampled in each metropolitan municipality and 30 per ward in local municipalities.
The number of Africans saying they would never trust whites increased from 68 percent in 2009 to 73 percent in 2013. Over the same period, the perception by whites had increased from 40 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2013.
Coloreds and Indians also agreed – 55 percent of Indians and 61 percent of coloreds.
Everatt said the notion was held deeply in the “older” townships. The study found that in those townships, 77 percent to 100 percent of the respondents believed that Blacks and Whites would never trust each other.
Those townships included Mamelodi, Soshanguve, Mabopane in Tshwane, Alexandra, Soweto in Johannesburg, Khutsong in the West Rand, Thokoza, Tsakane and Tembisa on the East Rand, along with Sebokeng in the Vaal.
Everatt said times had changed and so had people’s ways of thinking.
“Before whites said they would never trust Blacks, and Blacks were more open-minded,” he said.
The survey also looked at the roles played by the different race groups in building and benefiting from the resources of the country. Among the issues looked at was the role played by colored people in building a new South Africa.
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