Infographic: Constitutional Awareness in SA

The Foundation for Human Rights told the Justice Portfolio Committee this week that a 2011 baseline study on the awareness of the constitution and its bill of rights, found that less than only 46% of 4 200 respondents were aware of either of these important documents. In light of this, the Department of Justice and FHR decided to do a nationwide survey, using an expanded questionnaire, to measure the awareness of the Constitution of the South African population.

The first stage, a pilot study released in March 2016, with 1 200 respondents from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West, showed 62% had heard of the Constitution and 60% had heard about the Bill of Rights. It also shows that respondents in North West were least likely to have heard about the Constitution (59%) or the Bill of Rights (49%).

Face-to-face interviews were conducted and 66% lived in urban areas and 33% lived in rural areas.

More interesting results from the survey showed:

• The majority of the respondents that felt 'very disappointed with the way democracy works in SA", is from the North West (46%), followed by Gauteng (28%)

• Public schools (57%) and SASSA (48%) instilled the most trust among  respondents

• Respondents showed the most distrust toward police (26%) and the courts (21%)

• 52% of respondents said race and ethnicity affected opportunities of getting government jobs and tenders