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Herman Mashaba, the leader of ActionSA, is seen unfavourably by over 60% of people living in Tshwane.

This is according to polling* conducted in February and March by the Social Research Foundation (SRF), in conjunction with The Common Sense.

Voters were asked how they felt about leading politicians in South Africa. Sixty-one percent had an unfavourable impression of Mashaba, 8% had a favourable impression, and 19% had a neutral impression. Twelve percent were unsure or were unfamiliar with Mashaba.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had one of the highest favourability ratings. Thirty-nine percent of people had a favourable view of him, 18% had an unfavourable view, with 42% being neutral.

John Steenhuisen, the former leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), also had a high favourability rating in the capital, with 32% of people having a favourable view. Twenty-one percent had an unfavourable view of him, 16% were neutral, while 32% were unsure or unfamiliar with him.

Steenhuisen’s successor as DA leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, was viewed favourably by 9%, unfavourably by 2%, and neutrally by 17%. Nearly three-quarters were unsure or unfamiliar with him.

Patrice Motsepe had the highest favourability rating of the options that were presented to respondents. Fifty-four percent had a favourable view of him, 16% had an unfavourable view, 13% had a neutral view, and 17% were unfamiliar or unsure (Motsepe’s favourability in the capital could be linked to his ownership of Mamelodi Sundowns, Tshwane’s premier football club, which Motsepe has turned into a footballing juggernaut in recent years).

Mashaba’s high unfavourability rating could be a handicap for his party ahead of the next local government elections (LGE), which will likely be held towards the end of the year. While the city’s mayor, Nasiphi Moya, is a member of ActionSA, service delivery failures in the capital and Mashaba’s high unfavourability rating could see ActionSA struggle in the upcoming LGE.

In the last LGE ActionSA won 8.6% of the vote in Tshwane. According to the latest SRF/The Common Sense polling it had the support of 5% of voters in the city.

*The Social Research Foundation Q1 2026 Market Survey was commissioned by the Social Research Foundation supported by The Common Sense and conducted by Victory Research using a nationally representative telephonic CATI survey of registered voters (N=2,222), with metro samples upsized to over 500 respondents each in Johannesburg (n=503), Tshwane (n=510), and eThekwini (n=503). Fieldwork was conducted between 16 February 2026 and 6 March 2026 using a single-frame random digit dialling sampling design that draws from all possible South African mobile numbers, ensuring equal probability of selection and near-universal coverage given SIM penetration above 250%, more than 90% adult phone ownership, and mobile network coverage of 99.8% of the population. Respondents were screened to include registered voters only, and turnout modelling assigned each respondent a probability of voting based on likelihood indicators, with the primary model assuming turnout of 56.0%. Data were weighted to ensure the national sample reflects the demographic profile of the registered voter population across language, age, race, gender, location (urban/rural), education, and income, while metro samples were weighted to the demographic composition of voters in each metro. Results are reported at a 95% confidence level with a design effect (DEFF) of 1.762, producing margins of error of 2.1% nationally and 4.4% for each metro sample.