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Only 18% of ANC voters still support Zuma’s presidency, poll suggests

Jacob Zuma’s continued support from within the ruling party is costing the ANC votes outside.

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A new poll by Ipsos revealed that 62% of the ANC’s voter base no longer supports Jacob Zuma’s presidency. Not that that’s an issue for el presidente, all he needs to stick around right now is the loudest voices, not the most.

Related: Zuma a champion of the poor, hero to millions of South Africans. Van Rooyen

The poll, a joint project by Ipsos and eNCA, ran from April 21 to May 22 and surveyed 3 500 ANC voters. The results show that 65% of those surveyed want the president gone, a sharp decline in support for Mzansi’s most wanted.

Towards the end of 2016 a similar poll put the president’s support at 54%… a figure similar to the meagre votes the ruling party — with the help of its Tripartite Alliance partners — was able to scrape together in the 2016 local government elections.

Zuma’s — and by proxy the ANC — decline comes after yet another cabinet reshuffle replaced a string of cabinet ministers with those from within his own cabal, a move that’s seen even the ANC’s alliance partners call for the president’s head.

Last weekend things came to breaking point when the ANC NEC met to discuss possibly removing the president through a vote of no confidence. The move failed, but exposed just how fragile Zuma’s grip on power has become.

Read: No confidence a bust, but the EFF’s been given a date for impeachment bid

Meanwhile, a wave of support from within the more educated ranks of the ANC has pushed deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to the forefront of the race for ANC presidency; backed up by public endorsements from both alliance partners, former presidents and some civil society organisations.