MarupingB_HonoursResearchReport

SELECTED FACTORS AFFECTING THE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF
STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
BOITUMELO P. MARUPING
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE BA HONOURS INDUSTRIAL SOCIOLOGY
October 1, 2012
SUPERVISOR: PROF K NAIDOO

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1 Introduction
The following research report is based on an Honours level study of university students.
The main focus is on the extent to which students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ)
are involved in political activities. The sub-project that represents my particular study,
aims to establish the extent to which perceptions of the leadership of the dominant political
party in government – the African National Congress (ANC) – influences in some way the
political participation and activism of present-day students. For the purposes of this study,
‘political participation’ is defined pragmatically as voting in national or local elections,
belonging to a political party or movement, and engaging in political activities such as
attending meetings, protesting or campaigning for a political cause (Khosa, 2005: 128).
Literature on this particular topic suggests varying reactions from university students, but
there are clear indications that in recent years the enthusiasm of university students to
become active participants in politics in South Africa has dwindled (Fick, 2005:161).
The study, working from this assumption, aimed to uncover some of the reasons behind
these increasingly apathetic attitudes of South African youth, with regard to political
matters. This research report aims to highlight selected factors underlying this issue by
firstly identifying a problem statement arising out of the topic; this will be followed by a
basic literature review to provide an overview of the issues found to be relevant to the
topic. Following this, a list of hypotheses, indicating the independent and dependent
variables which were constructed from the literature survey, will be highlighted.
Thereafter, a brief section outlining the research design and methodology which was used
to conduct the study will be discussed. This will then be followed by the analysis and
concluding discussion.

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2 Problem Statement
The South African youth have played a major role in shaping the country’s politics,
particularly during the dark days of apartheid. The youth of the country, including students
from the not-so-distant-past, were well known for their militancy and their general active
participation in politics. They are said to have played a critical role in shaping social
transformation in the country. This fact we are well exposed to, through the history of
prominent figures such as Steve Biko and Hector Peterson, as well as through
revolutionary events such as the 1976 student uprisings (Jobson, 2011: 8).
In the wake of post-apartheid South Africa, there seems to be a general increase in
political apathy by the South African youth, irrespective of racial, ethnic or gender identity
(Fick, 2005: 161). Literature shows that there are a number of suggested reasons
accounting for this trend (Dahlgren, 2007: 2), thus this study aims to uncover key selected
factors that affect youth political behaviour. Declining interest in political matters among
the youth – particularly the educated youth is a concern, as it is likely that it is from these
individuals that the country’s future leaders will be chosen. The participation of students
in politics is particularly important, because even during the apartheid era, it was the
educated that played a key role in leading the masses against the regime. The educated
serve the important role of being able to guide the masses, and work alongside them,
towards common goals (Fumanti, 2007:472).
This study, as already mentioned, is intended to shed light on why there might be this
change in political participation and to question whether this has been influenced by
(negative) impressions of the current leadership in the ruling party and the state. The
study thus set out to investigate how students’ political participation might be influenced
by their demographic characteristics (or identities) and their perceptions of the ANC-led
government. This was indicated in the research question: “To what extent do UJ students’
demographic characteristics, alongside their perceptions of the ANC-led government,
influence their level of political participation?”
For the purpose of this particular study, focus is on students at the University of
Johannesburg (UJ), Auckland Park Kingsway Campus (APK), as the units of analysis.

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The study was conducted using a quantitative method of enquiry – a survey to be more
precise, to allow for the quantitative measuring of data. The time frame for the study was
from May to October 2012.
3 Literature Review
The purpose of the literature review is to offer background information on the topic in
question, in order to identify if there are gaps that need to be explored and filled by current
and future research alike. The literature will be divided into thematic categories, starting
with a discussion of political participation, as this is a variable which will be used
extensively in this particular study. This will be followed by discussions on the role of race,
class and gender respectively, in relation to political participation. Finally, this will be
followed by a section on the general perceptions of the ANC by South Africans. The
literature review is organised in such a way to reflect some of the dominant themes in the
‘political participation’ literature, which are then referred to in this particular study as the
selected factors shaping political participation.
3.1 Political Participation and Civic Activity
Political participation can be described as “direct or indirect voluntary activities of the
public towards legislative, policy making and planning functions of various institutions in
government, including but not restrictive to voting” (Khosa, 2005: 128). As suggested
already, political participation is taken by the researcher to mean voting in national or local
elections, belonging to a political party or movement, and involvement in other political
activities such as attending meetings, protesting or campaigning for a political cause.
Frisco et al. (2004: 661) conducted a study aimed at assessing whether there was a
relationship between general youth civic activity and voting behaviour. Civic activity
included “activity in scouts, religious youth groups and sports teams, boy’s and girl’s
clubs”, all these being beyond school grounds. These activities are aimed at promoting
pro-social behaviour and general community involvement (Frisco et al, 2004: 661).
Involvement in such activities, have historically been dominated by middle class youth,
lower class youth being largely marginalised from such activities (Frisco et al, 2004: 662).

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According to Youniss and Levine (2009: 1-2), participation in politics and civic life gives
young people a sense of purpose and gives their lives meaning, thus the government
should actively seek to engage the youth in civic activity, if the benefits thereof are to be
reaped. A number of activities such as community projects, participation in student
governments and various other society-based programs are suggested as ways to
socialise young people into being more involved in society (Youniss and Levine, 2009:
6).
In their study, Frisco and colleagues (2004: 663) found that young people who have been
involved in civic activity are more likely to be voters as early adults, when compared to
the youth who never engaged in such activities. This was found to be resulting from the
fact that involvement in such activities, develops young people’s sense of citizenship from
earlier on in life
3.2 The Racial Factor in Political Participation
Race has played (and continues to play) a major role on many issues in South African
society. Political participation is no exception; Hayes (2012:115) highlights that political
participation is widely influenced by race and class. The country’s population is
predominantly Black, as they compose three quarters of the population and the rest being
White, Indian and Coloured combined (Umeh & Andranovich, 2005:17). There is said to
be a general increase in participation by Blacks when there is a presence of Black
politicians. This is said to increase political empowerment and group pride (Hayes,
2012:117). However, Mclaughlin (2008:23) asserts that voting behaviour is equally
influenced by political sophistication and political ideology of the political parties, just as
by racial or ethnic loyalty.
In the context of the university setting, it is worth noting that in some institutions, such as
the University of Limpopo, one notes that the racial composition is not very diverse. During
the apartheid era, this institution was one of the former ‘Black universities’, currently
dubbed ‘historically disadvantaged institutions’ (Oxlund, 2010:52). However, more
students in post-apartheid South Africa are said to have embraced a South African

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identity, and have thus moved away from the categorical racial or ethnic identities as per
the legacy of the previous regime (Goldschmidt, 2003:216). Even so, Fakir & Bhengu
(2006) indicate that Black youth tend to be more politically expressive, than the youth of
other race groups. The University of Johannesburg was a ‘historically White’ university
that has rapidly changed to incorporate large numbers of Black and working class
students.
3.3 The Rich-Poor divide: Role of Class in Politics
Social class or socio-economic status (SES), is measured by family income, parents
education and occupation combined (Frisco, 2004: 667). According to Hayes (2012:116)
there is said to be a relationship between low SES and low levels of political participation.
It is further added that low levels of education, means that there will be a general
unfamiliarity with political matters – thus leading to lower levels of participation by the poor
in politics. This idea is also supported by Hillygus (2005:26) as he asserts that education
generally increases political participation, as well as voting.
However, in direct contrast to this notion, Fakir & Bhengu (2006) explain that people who
are privileged, are likely to see political and electoral processes as “inefficient and
ineffective in responding to their needs”, and that it is the poor who are likely to be more
involved in politics as they are more dependent on the government to provide for most of
their essential needs. Survey findings of the HSRC (2000) in Khosa (2005: 131), confirm
this idea, as citizens are said to participate in political processes, when they expect to
gain some form of material gain in return. This survey also found that in comparison, there
are low levels of participation by low-status citizens, which increases with middle status
citizens, and then declines again for the higher status citizens (Khoza, 2005: 131).

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3.4 Gender and Politics
Based on a study by the HSRC (2000), it was found that women are less inclined to
participate in politics than men (Khosa, 2005: 129). According to Dolan (2011:97) a good
amount of political knowledge is important for effective political participation. There is said
to be an apparent gap between women and men in political knowledge, as it is generally
noted that men “know” more when it comes to political matters than women. This gap is
founded on a number of factors including women’s historically lower levels of education
and occupation, differential socialisation of girls and boys, as well as a general perception
of politics as “a man’s game” (Dolan, 2011:98).
Women all over the world, are generally known to have a minority status in society, this
fact is also true for African women who are largely marginalised from mainstream
economic as well as political participation (Isike & Uzodike, 2011: 225-6). Women in
South Africa are not a homogeneous group, as they differ along the lines of race, class
and geographical location - rural and urban areas (Fick, 2001: 39). Even so, politics in
general is said to be largely masculinised, thus producing “a new form of patriarchy to
legitimise the marginalisation of all women from political activity” (Isike & Uzodike,
2011:226). As far as political involvement goes, women are said to be largely restricted
to the voting process, while men take an active part at all levels (Niehaus, 2006:544).
Women’s identities are still largely tied to domestic roles, and even when some women
try to break away from such roles (for example, young women who are in tertiary
institutions) they often feel intimidated and undermined by males and are thus stigmatised
as cultural deviants (Isike & Uzodike, 2011:233-4). Women continue to struggle to move
out of the constraints of the private sphere of society, into the public sphere of politics, as
a result of such traditional stereotypes (Fick, 2001: 40).
3.5 General Perceptions of the ANC
The ANC was a key player in the liberation movement towards democracy, thus Butler
(2007: 35) asserts that “the health of the ANC is a crucial indicator of the state of the
nation”. This assertion is indicative of just how crucial perceptions of the ruling party are;

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they represent one of the major factors that are central to political involvement (or lack of
involvement) in the country. During the first decade of democracy, the ANC increased its
supportership in the general elections, from winning by a majority of 63 per cent in 1994
to 70 per cent in 2004 (Butler, 2007: 35). This shows that there was a general increase in
confidence, for the ANC-led government by the South African citizens. According to
Schultz-Herzenberg (2007: 114 & 121) the ANC support base has been noted as
somewhat racialised and class-based. It has remained fairly unchanged, without making
major in-roads into the remaining racial groups (White, Coloured and Indian) that
constitute the minority (Schultz-Herzenberg, 2007: 114).
Widespread service delivery protests are indicative of a general dissatisfaction with the
ANC, which is then shown in voting patterns (Schultz-Herzenberg, 2007: 137). Based on
this widespread dissatisfaction about service delivery by the ruling party, “there is said to
be a growing decline in support for the ANC amongst the poor; and thus people are
looking into opposition parties as alternatives” (IEC, 2011) from Naidoo (2011:635). In
support of this view, Schultz-Herzenberg (2007: 130) asserts that “voters use economic
and political performance evaluations to reward, or punish government for their material
improvements or economic decline”. In light of the increase in unemployment rates,
economic insecurity and poor service delivery, it is predicted that levels of support for the
ANC will probably decrease quite significantly (Schultz-Herzenberg, 2007: 130).
However, it is quite interesting that even with growing discontent amongst people with the
quality of their lives, approximately two decades into democracy, there still remains
considerable loyalty to the ANC during election time (Niehaus, 2006:526).
A HSRC (2002) survey evaluating public perception of the general legitimacy of the ANC
government, found that 60 percent of the citizens believed the government to be
responsive to their interests (Khosa, 2005: 132). Additional surveys conducted between
1994 and 2003, found that there was a general dissatisfaction with government, a large
proportion of the dissatisfaction being among white and wealthy respondents. Lower-
income groups on the other hand, viewed the government more favourably (Khosa, 2005:
133). Since 1994, there have been sharp differences in people’s views of government
that appear to be along racial lines; as the government was perceived more positively by

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the Black Africans, whereas White South Africans perceived the government more
negatively. It was also found that trust in government amongst South Africans in general,
is on the decrease, however, this is said to decline significantly with an increase in SES
(Khosa, 2005: 133-134).
4 Hypotheses
This study was aimed at establishing if there is a relationship between perceptions of the
current ANC-led government and the level of political participation of UJ students. It is
suspected that the ruling party’s negative reputation in society, as a function of a general
lack of effective service delivery to citizens, is associated with low levels of students’
political participation. The relationship between these two variables, are also suspected
to be further influenced by factors such as gender, race and class.
A number of variables which were used to construct hypotheses, were used to further
establish the presence (or lack of) a relationship between the two main variables namely,
perceptions of the current ANC leadership (which is the independent variable), and the
level of political participation of UJ students (which is the dependent variable).
The different hypotheses (which will be indicated more clearly below), were tested by
particular items (questions) relating to the hypotheses in the survey. Various codes were
assigned to different sets of responses as given by participants, and these were used to
measure the views of participants. The hypotheses and differential variables are as
follows:
1. There is a difference in voting behaviour between students involved in civic
activity, and those who are not involved.
Independent: Involvement in civic activity
Dependent: Voting behaviour

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2. There is a relationship between race and political participation.
Independent: Race
Dependent: Political participation
3. There is a relationship between class and political participation.
Independent: Class
4. There is a difference between the political participation of males and females.
Independent: Gender
5. There is a relationship between perceptions of the ANC-led government, and
political participation.
Independent: Perceptions of the ANC-led government
5 Research Design and Methodology
This study was conducted using the quantitative research strategy; the reason why the
quantitative approach was used as opposed to the qualitative approach, was to allow for
the measurement of data in quantifiable terms. The research tool that was used to gather
data was a survey, which comprised of 54 questions. There were 185 items in total, from
which, the relevant questions (items) were selected to test the various hypotheses. Since
a quantitative research method was observed, the nature of questions were
(predominantly) closed-ended, thus there were set responses to each question. The only
exception was made with questions that had an “other (specify)” option, in which case
these were coded accordingly.
The study population was students of the University of Johannesburg, in Auckland Park
Kingsway Campus, from which an initial random sample of 55 undergraduate students
were interviewed for a pilot study in July 2012. Thereafter, a stratified sample (by gender,

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race and level of study) of 310 undergraduate students was selected to participate in the
final study during August 2012. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to gather data
for the survey. The data collected was analysed using SPSS 20, from which the results
yielded, will be interpreted in the section below.
6 Sample Profile
Fig 1: Gender
Figure 1 (above) shows that the majority of the sample, comprised of female respondents
with 52.9 percent, whereas the males came second with 47.1 per cent. This is reflective
of the UJ population, as the majority of the students are in fact females.

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Fig 2: Race
The racial groups represented in the study, comprise of Blacks, Whites, Indians and
Coloureds. Indians and Coloureds were recoded and combined, as they were the minority
groups of the sample, thus together they comprise nearly 37 per cent of the sample. Black
students dominated the sample by 45 per cent, followed by Whites with almost 19 per
cent.
Fig 3: Year of Study
The majority of the sample comprised of first years with 45.2 per cent, second years
following with nearly 32 per cent. Finally, seniors being the minority, third, fourth and fifth
years followed with nearly 23 per cent.

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Fig 4.1: 2009 Elections
Fig 4.2 Party Voted for
In terms of voting during national elections, only 23.7 per cent of the sample voted (Fig
4.1), the majority (48.8%) having been too young to vote at the time, and the rest did not
vote for a number of reasons ranging from not having an identity document at the time,
to simply not being interested. Of those who voted (Fig 4.2), the majority seemed to favour
the Democratic Alliance as their preferred party, closely followed by the ANC, and a
minority of 9.7 per cent voted for other political parties.

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Fig 5: Local Elections
Voting patterns for local elections are very similar to that of national elections, as the
majority of students (76.1%) did not vote during these elections, whereas only about 24
per cent of the sample, cast their vote.
Fig 6: Party Favoured
The majority of the sample (53 %) indicated that they favoured the DA as their preferred
political party, followed by ANC which is favoured by nearly 43 per cent of the sample,

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and a minority of 4.1 per cent preferring other minority parties such as COPE, IFP and
FFP.
Fig 7: National Political Participation
The histogram as shown above, represents the political participation of the sample on the
national level. This was measured using an index, which was constructed using a number
of items including voting in national and municipal elections, participation in protests,
meetings, debates and events relevant to politics. The histogram as seen above is
positively skewed, as the majority of the values are clustered around lower values. Based
on this observation, it may be concluded that an overwhelming majority of the sample is
not involved in national politics; as such, the sample represents UJ students as largely
politically apathetic.
7 Hypotheses Testing
The following section is based on testing the various hypotheses as constructed in section
4 of the report. Each hypothesis is tested using various statistical tests, as relevant to the
variables used to construct the hypothesis. The level of measurement of each variable
will be identified, so to substantiate the choice of the statistical tests used to test the
different hypotheses.

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Fig 8: Community Involvement
The hypothesis indicated above, will be tested using a t-test for independent samples, in
order to establish whether voting behaviour is independent of involvement in civic activity
or not. Voting behaviour is considered the dependent variable, while the involvement in
civic activity is considered the independent variable. It should be noted that only 28.1%
of the sample indicated that they are involved in community work, and an overwhelming
71.9% are not involved (as indicated in Fig 8).
A t-test is appropriate for testing this specific hypothesis, as voting behaviour is measured
on an index, which is a continuous variable; and involvement in civic activity is measured
using a dichotomous item, whereby students indicated whether or not they are involved
in their community i.e. yes or no. The null and alternative hypotheses formulated are as
follows:
Hypothesis 1: There is a difference in voting behaviour, between students
involved in civic activity and those who are not involved.
H0: The average voting behaviour of students involved in civic activity and those not involved is the
same.
H1: The average voting behaviour of students involved in civic activity is different from the average
voting behaviour of students not involved in civic activity.

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In line with the assumptions of a t-test, one of the assumptions hold that the variances of
the two groups (involved and non-involved) are the same. To test this assumption, the
hypotheses formulated are as follows:
Table 1.1 Group Statistics: Involvement in community work and Voting behaviour
Table 1.2 Independent Samples Test: Involvement in community work and Voting behaviour
From the first table titled “Group Statistics” (Table 1.1), the means of both groups
(involved and non-involved) are not very different from each other as the involved group
has a mean of 2.0, and the non-involved has a mean of 1.7. The p-value observed for the
F-statistic on the second table (Table 1.2), is read as 0.745 >0.05, thus indicating that we
do not reject the null hypothesis that the variances are the same.
Since equality of variances is assumed, the p-value of the t-statistic indicates that p=
0.057>0.05, thus we do not reject the null hypothesis that the two groups have equal
means. Therefore, we can conclude that there is no statistically significant difference
between the average voting behaviour of students involved in civic activity, and those not
involved.
H0: The variances are the same
H1: The variances are not the same

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The above hypothesis was tested using an ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), in order to
determine if there is a statistically significant difference in the population means of more
than two groups. However, it should be noted that ANOVA uses variance, and not means
in analysis. Race is considered an independent variable, which is measured on a
categorical level of measurement, with three groups i.e. “Black, White and
Indian/Coloured”. Political participation on the other hand, is the variable of interest, or
the dependent variable. This is a continuous variable, measured using an index.
The ANOVA statistical test requires that two sets of hypotheses be set i.e. Hypotheses
Set 1: Independence of means and Hypotheses Set 2: Independence of Variance; and
they are as follows:
Hypothesis 2: There is a relationship between race and political participation
Independence of Means
H0: The average political participation is the same for all three groups.
H1: There is a difference in the average political participation of the three groups.
Independence of Variance
H0: Variances are the same
H1: Variances are not the same

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Table 2.1 Descriptives for National Political Participation and Race
Table 2.2 ANOVA: National Political Participation and Race
The first table provided (Table 2.1), merely indicates a number of descriptives for the
different groups, and most importantly the average scores of the individual groups, in
terms of the variable of interest. The second table (Table 2.2) indicates the P-value of the
F-statistic which reads that p= 0.000<0.05, thus the null hypothesis stating that the
average political participation is the same for all three groups, is rejected.
Table 2.3 Test of Homogeneity of Variances: National Political Participation and Race

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Table 2.4 Post Hoc Tests: National Political Participation and Race
In order to determine if there is a significant difference in the variances of the different
groups, the p-value on the Homogeneity of Variance table (Table 2.3) was observed, and
thus it was found that p=0.000<0.05, therefore the null hypothesis stating that variances
are the same is rejected.
The next table titled “Multiple Comparisons” (Table 2.4) shows a number of post-hoc tests
that were run, in order to determine which specific groups are significantly different. Since
it is already established that variances are not the same, only Dunnets T3 and Games
Howell Post-hoc tests are observed. From the post-hoc tests provided, it can be deduced
that the political participation of “Blacks” is significantly different from that of “Whites and
Indians/Coloureds” respectively, with the p-value ranging from 0.000 and 0.014. However,
there is no statistically significant difference between the political participation of “Whites”
and “Indians/Coloureds” as shown by the p-values ranging from 0.459 and 0.550.

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The above hypothesis is tested using a Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient
(Pearson’s r), in order to determine the linear association between class and political
participation. Both of these variables are measured on a continuous level, thus the
Pearson’s r, is suitable to test the hypothesis.
The hypotheses formulated to establish whether there is a statistically significant
association between the two variables are as follows:
Fig 9.1 Social Class Index
Hypothesis 3: There is a relationship between class and political participation
H0: There is no linear association between class and political participation
H1: There is a linear association between class and political participation

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Table 3 Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation: Social Class and Political participation
The histogram provided above (Fig 9.1), is an illustration of the social economic statuses
of the entire sample. This was measured as an index using a number of variables such
as parents’ occupation and education, geographical location, the type of school attended
and school fees paid. The histogram shows that the majority of the sample can be
considered middle class, as the majority of scores are clustered around the mid-point.
In terms of the relationship between class and political participation illustrated on Table
3, the p-value of 0.081>0.05 indicates that there is no significant relationship between the
two variables, thus the null hypothesis is not rejected. This is further confirmed by
Pearson’s Correlation statistic (-0.122), which indicates a small effect size of -12.2%.
Thus there is a weak relationship between class and political participation.
Hypothesis 4: There is a difference between the level of political participation, of males and
females.

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The above hypothesis was tested using a t-test of independent samples, so that it may
be established whether the level of political participation is independent of one’s gender.
Political participation is the dependent variable, while gender is considered the
independent variable.
A t-test is appropriate for testing this hypothesis, as political participation is measured on
an index, which is a continuous variable; and gender is a dichotomous variable. The null
and alternative hypotheses formulated are as follows:
In line with the assumptions of a t-test, one of the assumptions hold that the variances of
the two groups (males and females) are the same. To test this assumption, the
hypotheses formulated are as follows:
Table 4.1 Group Statistics: Gender and National Political Participation
H0: The average political participation of male and female students is the same.
H1: The average political participation of male and female students is not the same.
H0: The variances are the same
H1: The variances are not the same

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Table 4.2 Independent Samples Test: Gender and National Political Participation
From the table titled “Group Statistics” (Table 4.1), the means of the two groups seem
quite different from each other as males obtained a mean of 2.6, whereas females scored
a mean of 1.6. The p-value observed for the F-statistic on the second table, is read as
0.002<0.05, thus indicating that we reject the null hypothesis that the variances are the
same.
Since equality of variances is not assumed, the p-value of the t-statistic on Table 4.2
indicates that p= 0.001<0.05, thus we reject the null hypothesis that the two groups have
equal means. Therefore, we can conclude that there is a statistically significant difference
between males and females with regards to political participation.
There are two tests that were used to test this hypothesis, namely Pearson’s product
moment correlation coefficient and an ANOVA. The rationale behind this choice was that,
both the variables are measured on a continuous level, thus a Pearson’s r was feasible.
In addition, an ANOVA test was run using an item on the questionnaire that required
participants to indicate which political party they supported the most, regardless of
membership; this was used alongside the index constructed to measure perceptions of
the ANC-led government. Political party supported is the independent variable, whereas
Hypothesis 5: There is a relationship between perceptions of the ANC-led
government, and political participation.

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the index on the perceptions of the ANC-led government on the other hand, is the
dependent variable or the variable of interest.
The hypotheses formulated to establish whether there is a statistically significant
association between the two variables are as follows:
Table 5 Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation: Perceptions of the ANC and National Political Participation
From the above table of correlations (Table 5), it was found that there is a significant
relationship between perceptions of the ANC and political participation. This is indicated
by the p-value of 0.002<0.05, thus the null hypothesis is rejected. However, the Pearson’s
Correlation statistic of 0.187, indicates that this relationship is weak, with a small effect
size of only 18.7%.
H0: There is no linear relationship between the perceptions of the ANC and political participation
H1: There is a linear relationship between perceptions of the ANC and political participation

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The ANOVA statistical test on the other hand, requires that two sets of hypotheses be set
i.e. Hypotheses Set 1: Independence of means and Hypotheses Set 2: Independence of
Variance; and they are as follows:
Table 6.1 Descriptives: Perceptions of the ANC and Party supported most
Table 6.2 ANOVA: Perceptions of the ANC and Party supported most
Independence of Means
H0: The average perceptions of the ANC is the same for all three groups
H1: There is a difference between the three groups in the average perceptions of the ANC
Independence of Variance
H0: Variances are the same
H1: Variances are not the same

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The first table provided (Table 6.1), merely indicates a number of descriptives for the
different groups, and the average scores of the individual groups, in terms of the variable
of interest. The second table (Table 6.2) indicates the P-value of the F-statistic which
reads that p= 0.000<0.05, thus the null hypothesis stating that the average student
perception of the ANC is the same for all three groups, is rejected.
Table 6.3 Test of Homogeneity of Variances: Perceptions of the ANC
Table 6.4 Post-hoc Tests: Perceptions of the ANC and Party supported most

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In order to determine if there is a significant difference in the variances of the different
groups, the p-value on the Homogeneity of Variance table (Table 6.3) was observed, and
thus it was found that p=0.426>0.05, therefore the null hypothesis stating that variances
are the same is not rejected.
The next table titled “Multiple Comparisons” (Table 6.4) shows a number of post-hoc tests
that were run, in order to determine which specific groups are significantly different. Since
it was established that the variances are the same, only the Sheffe and Bonferonni tests
are observed. From the post-hoc tests provided, it is seen that students who support the
ANC differ significantly from those supporting the “DA” and “IFP/COPE/UDM/FFP etc”, in
terms of their perceptions of the ANC-led government. However, students who support
the “DA” and “IFP/COPE/UDM/FFP etc”, do not differ significantly in their perceptions of
the ANC, which is shown by the p-value ranging from 0.885 and 1.000. Therefore, it can
be concluded that students who support the ANC, have more positive perceptions of the
ANC-led government, compared to students who support other parties, as they have
more negative perceptions of the ANC-led government.
8 Interpretations of Results
The findings related to the voting behaviour of UJ students, indicated that there was no
significant difference between those who were involved in civic activity and those who
were not. Interestingly, this somewhat confirms the literature on civic activity, as it is
argued that civic engagement increases voting behaviour (Frisco et al, 2004:663). The
majority of the sample (71.9%) is not involved in civic activity and it is therefore logical
that low levels of voting were generally found. Therefore, the low levels of voting
behaviour of UJ students can be attributed to their lack of involvement in community/civic
work.
The influence of race on political participation, as asserted by Hayes (2012:115), is
confirmed by the findings, as there was found to be a significant difference between the
political participation of Black students, when compared with Whites and
Indians/Coloureds. This difference may be attributed to the overwhelmingly Black

28 | P a g e
dominance of the sample, thus Black students’ participation differs from that of the
minorities i.e. Whites, Indians and Coloureds. However, it was also found that the majority
of the sample (irrespective of race), indicated the DA as the political party they support
the most, followed by the ANC. This confirms the findings by the IEC (2011) in Naidoo
(2011:635), which indicated that people are looking onto oppositional parties as
alternatives, since they have lost confidence in the ANC as their party of choice.
Furthermore, Schultz-Herzenberg’s (2007: 130) prediction that in the light of increasing
unemployment rates and poor service delivery, levels of support for the ANC can be
expected to decrease, is seen as prophetic as findings in this study suggest that the
majority of UJ students are not very supportive of the ANC in general, and in elections.
Instead, they are looking to the DA as the political party which could make changes, to
meet their needs as the young electorates. This finding contradicts Niehaus’s (2006: 526)
suggestion that even with growing discontent about the ANC, there is still a considerable
amount of loyalty to the ANC during election time, as it was found that of those who voted
during the 2009 elections, 48.6 per cent voted for the DA and only 41.7 per cent voted for
the ANC. This finding confirms Schultz-Herzenberg (2007: 130) idea that voters use their
votes to ‘penalise’ the ANC for their poor services. Thus it can be concluded that the ANC
is ‘losing’ the young electorate to the DA, a finding that may potentially impact on South
African politics as we are heading to the 2014 general elections.
It was found that there is no significant relationship between class and political
participation, which contradicts literature that political participation amongst the middle
class is higher than that of the poor and the rich (Khosa,2005:131). The UJ sample was
found to be predominantly middle class, and yet with extremely low levels of political
participation, which strongly contradicted the literature. It can be deduced that the
applicability of the relationship between class and political participation, is not relevant to
the context of a university, but may possibly be so on another setting.
The idea that women are less inclined to participate in politics (Khosa, 2005), is confirmed
by findings, as it was found that there is a statistically significant difference between males

29 | P a g e
and females with regard to political participation. This is supported by the idea that politics
is still seen “as a man’s game” (Fakir & Bhengu, 2006), as it is largely dominated by
males. It is surprising to find that even in a university context, these ideas are still relevant.
One would expect that with the ‘liberating’ effect that the academy generally has on
society, these ideas or practices would not apply to the university population, as they
would in the general society.
With regard to perceptions of the ANC, it was found that there is a statistically significant
relationship between the perceptions of the ANC and political participation. There was
also a significant difference found between supporters of the ANC and non-supporters, in
terms of their perceptions of the ANC. This somewhat confirms literature, which indicates
that perceptions of the ANC government, differs along racial lines, with Blacks being more
favourable to the ANC, than the Whites (Khosa, 2005). This is shown with Black
domination among the supporters of the ANC, and White domination among DA
supporters, and thus the sharp contrast between them in perceptions of the ANC.
The above mentioned findings show that political participation is a variable that is
influenced by a number of factors, such as involvement in the community, race, gender,
government perceptions and to a lesser extent, by class. Therefore, on the point of
political apathy of young people, in this case the students at UJ, the generally low levels
of political participation are understood to be as a result of the interplay of the above
mentioned factors. These findings should especially be valuable to the ANC and the DA
alike, as they show that the ANC is becoming unpopular to young people, and that the
DA is seemingly a strong alternative as the political party to lead the country.
9 Ethical Issues and Limitations
The ethical issues and limitations surrounding this study, include the mere probing into
people’s political views, which some individuals might view as private and not necessarily
for “public use”. The limitations of the study were the research method selected and the
question of its representativeness. For a topic such as this, which requires in-depth
analysis, it would have useful to also draw on qualitative methods. This would have

30 | P a g e
allowed participants to voice out their views freely, without being restricted to set
responses, thus enabling the generation of richer data. Since the sample was selected
from UJ students on Kingsway Campus only, it leaves one to question if students from
other campuses share similar views – thus raising the issue of representativeness of UJ
students.
10 Recommendations
Future enquiry into students’ political participation should be primarily directed at
uncovering reasons for political apathy. A number of studies and statistics are already
available, thus it is a reasonably established ‘fact’ that South African youth are politically
apathetic – or currently unenthusiastic about political participation. Therefore, if the issue
of apathy is to be addressed effectively, studies should be dedicated to uncovering
subjective motives behind this. It is also advised that such studies be conducted using
qualitative research methods such as ethnographies and focus group research, so to be
able to overcome a number of limitations of quantitative methods.
11 Conclusion
The above paper was a report based on a research enquiry into the political participation
of students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Auckland Park Campus; and to
establish whether there is a relationship between the participation and perceptions of
ANC-led government. The paper started off by identifying a problem statement; this was
then followed by a literature review to provide selective overview of the existing literature.
Following this, a list of hypotheses, indicating the independent and dependent variables
were constructed. Thereafter, a brief section outlining the research design and
methodology which was used to gather data for the study was discussed, which was
followed by a section on hypotheses testing and interpretation of findings.
The findings indicated that the issue of political participation, can be understood more
clearly when taking a number of factors into consideration. This means that political

31 | P a g e
participation and political apathy are variables that are dependent on other factors, and
are not self-determinant. It is through such a study that we will be informed as to why
there is such a general decrease in political participation by the South African youth,
particularly the educated youth. It is from such research that we might be able to explore
which strategies may be more effective in dealing with such unfavourable trends – and
how such trends can, given the possibility of changing political and youth dynamics, be
reversed.

32 | P a g e
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