improvement in its supporters’ employment status. In 2010 a total of 87% were unemployed –
in 2012 this��had dropped to 70%, which is effectively equal to the MDC‐T’s figure. A difference
remains in that the MDC‐T’s employed supporters are more likely than those of ZANU‐PF to be
in full‐time employment. A larger proportion of ZANU‐PF’s unemployed supporters than those
of the MDC‐T also report never to have been employed.
Province: Table 4 details the provincial breakdown of the main parties’ and undeclareds’
support. On one level there appears to be a substantial shift of support from the MDC‐T to
ZANU‐PF. On another level, however, the ‘my vote is my secret’ category has grown in most of
the provinces, a trend that makes the MDC‐T declines more ambiguous. Overall and in terms of
the vote pronouncements of early July 2012 the MDC‐T’s 2012 survey proportions as compared
with those of 2010 were down in all provinces and those of ZANU‐PF rose in all provinces.
Party share of responsibility for good‐very good performance in Inclusive Government
The comparison of 2010 and 2012 findings on which party is to get the most credit for good or very good
aspects of IG, the MDC‐T suffers a sharp decline in the level of credit its receives for its contribution. In
2010 of total of 52% of Zimbabweans reckoned that the MDC‐T was the main contributor to successes –
by 2012 this recognition had fallen to 15%. ZANU‐PF picked up a portion of the shifting credit. There
was, however, a far greater tendency in 2012 than in 2010 (up by 9 percentage points from 30 to 39%)
that these two parties deserve equal credit (Q19). Amongst MDC‐T supporters in 2010 a total of 87%
had reckoned that the good work was mainly attributable to the MDC‐T. By 2012 this was the opinion of
only 44% of the MDC‐T supporters (and 3% of ZANU‐PF supporters). This indicates that these people’s
belief in their own party had been badly dented in the time of IG. This lowered percentage was
nevertheless aligned with the 35% of ZANU‐PF supporters that reckoned that their party deserved the
main credit.
The overall trends from this question on Zimbabwe’s direction support the idea – evident in several of
the findings of this survey – of higher levels of national consensus than had existed before.
4: LIFE IN THE TIMES OF INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT
Zimbabweans’ experiences of life have been changed in the course of their experience of the time of
Inclusive Government (IG). Expecting that IG and power‐sharing have been impacting experiences,
perceptions and attitudes, the survey crafted measures to assess Zimbabweans’ orientations towards
life in the time of IG. The measures ranged from the personal and mostly socio‐economic experiences of
Zimbabweans, to views on the performance of IG across different sectors, generalised assessments of
the performance of IG, checking which party is more responsible for the sectoral performance ratings,
and following through with assessing expectations about IG continuing post‐next‐election, or not.
26
Select target paragraph3
Add to table of contents