Voters in KwaZulu-Natal are split on the question of whether the province should have more autonomy.

This comes from a survey of 2 434 registered voters in the province conducted by the Social Research Foundation in September 2023.

In that survey a question was put to participants: “South Africa needs a strong national government, with centralised control. Even though KwaZulu-Natal is not the same as the rest of South Africa, it needs the same national leadership and decision-making as the rest of the country, so that all provinces are equal and not too independent. That is what is best for KwaZulu-Natal governance”

OR

“KwaZulu-Natal is not the same as the rest of South Africa, it is home to different races and cultures and has its own distinctive needs and issues. Because of this, it would make sense to give the KwaZulu-Natal government more powers and make it more independent, so that it can respond directly to the needs of its people and stop having to rely so much on the national government, which often does not solve problems.”

Participants could either agree with the first or second statement somewhat or strongly.

Amongst all voters in the province, 42% agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 51% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.

When broken down by race 43% of black KwaZulu-Natal voters agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 52% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.

Amongst Indian voters in the province, 24% agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 61% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.

White KwaZulu-Natalians were the least in favour of more autonomy for the province. Some 62% of white voters in the province agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 37% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.