South Africans are split on the question of whether the death penalty should be reinstated. This insight comes from a survey of 3 204 registered South African voters conducted in July 2022.

A question in that survey read as follows: “We need to bring back the death penalty to fight violent crime”

OR

“We need professionalism, excellence, and corruption needs to be removed from the criminal justice system, so that it can catch and prosecute criminals.”

Participants could choose whether they agreed with the first or second statement somewhat or strongly.

Amongst all registered voters 47% agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 48% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.

When broken down by party affiliation 45% of African National Congress voters agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 51% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.

Amongst Democratic Alliance voters 55% agreed with the first statement somewhat or strongly and 40% agreed with the second statement somewhat or strongly.

Economic Freedom Fighters voters were split down the middle, with 50% agreeing with the first statement and 50% with the second statement.