More than a third of South Africans would choose to work and raise their families in the United States, while a small fraction chose Russia and China out of six nations, a stark contrast to the government’s foreign policy, a poll showed.
The survey of 3,200 registered voters was conducted by the Social Research Foundation last year and released on Tuesday, in a week when South Africa is visited by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Treasury Secretary. USA, Janet Yellen. The South African government has been criticized by some opposition parties and civil society groups for its decision not to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and plans to hold a naval exercise involving Russian and Chinese ships next month.
Just over a fifth of registered voters surveyed chose the UK, 11% Germany and 9.4% Cuba, a country with which South Africa’s ruling party has strong apartheid-era ties. Only 1.4% chose Russia and 0.8% China.
“Across party affiliation lines, race and income level in the region 6 to 7 or more in 10 South Africans would prefer to live and work in a Western liberal democracy,” the foundation said in a statement. “The data clashes a bit with South Africa’s foreign policy.”
The survey did not take into account the language preference of the people surveyed. English, the official language in the US and the UK, is widely spoken in South Africa.
China is South Africa’s biggest trading partner, with the United States and Germany in second and third place, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The United Kingdom is sixth and Russia 33. Cuba is South Africa’s 150th trading partner.
South Africa, along with Russia and China, is a member of the BRICS group of emerging market economies.
© 2023 Bloomberg
