2.4 Trust in prevailing state and political institutions Patterns of trust in public institutions in current Zimbabwe help reveal both issues of contemporary politics, and the challenges that are faced in the transition to a new system. The survey revealed a hierarchy of trust [Q62] (Table 6). Trust in Institutions Table 6: Levels of trust in public institutions Trust Trust somewhat a lot Churches (in general) International donor organisations Office of the Prime Minister MDC-T Traditional leaders Civil society Local government Parliament The military Presidency The police Political parties (in general) ZANU-PF MDC-M Total of two categories of trust Row percentages (%) 31 50 81 35 44 79 37 30 67 34 32 66 34 25 59 39 17 56 38 11 49 31 16 47 30 16 46 24 19 43 27 16 43 33 7 40 20 16 36 18 4 22 Question: ‘In the current Zimbabwe, how much do you trust each of the following institutions?’ Note: ‘Don’t know’ and refuse percentages are not reported in this table Several of the items in Table 8 are cross-referenced below as parallel measures of party political support – especially the three political parties, the Presidency (Robert Mugabe / ZANU-PF), and the Office of the Premier (Morgan Tsvangirai / MDC-T). Interestingly, whereas 43% report that they trust the police, a much higher percentage, 64%, states that if violently attacked by a member of an opposition party, they would report the incident to the police [Q43]. It is notable that none of the prevailing public-state institutions – apart from the Office of the Prime Minister and in a sense the traditional leaders – have trust levels of over 50%. This reinforces the need for a new constitution, civic education to build ownership, and a referendum to legitimate the emerging constitution. 24