Up to date at last - let's see how long I can stay like this!

On a positive note, I am proud to be South African - I wonder why I never get asked any of these questions in any of these surveys!

Still, I am very proud to be a South African and I am very excited about the future of this young democracy of ours. There is an abundance of everything available here, for people who are willing to open their eyes and recognise it for what it is.

It's there for the taking - who would like some?

How proud are you to be South African?
April 27 2007 at 01:16AM

Ninety-five percent of South Africans are proud to be South African, a survey by the University of Stellenbosch found."The overwhelming majority of South Africans are proud to be South African, prefer democracy as a governing system and believe that our democratic system will develop positively in the future," said spokeswoman Mari Harris on Thursday, on behalf of Markinor and the university's Centre for International and Comparative Politics.

Harris said the study was conducted on 3 000 randomly-selected South Africans by the university department in November and December 2006. When asked "How proud are you to be South African?", 19 out of every 20 responded that they were either "very" or "quite proud", said Harris.

'How proud are you to be South African?'

"More than nine in every 10, across all population groups, are also strongly committed to the country," she said. Of the 95 percent of respondents proud to be South African, 96 percent were black, 92 percent white, 98 percent "coloured" and 92 percent Indian. "The overall result (95 percent) is on the same level as that measured in the 2001 World Values Survey, although the proportion who are 'very proud' increased from 72 percent in 2001 to 78 percent."

According to the survey, Northern Cape, Limpopo and Free State residents are the proudest. Harris said African National Congress supporters were the proudest at 98 percent followed by Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters both with 94 percent. People were asked to rate the political system as it was under apartheid, the current political system and the political system expected in the future. Researchers found that black South Africans were the most positive about the current and future political systems while whites were the most negative. "However, the views of all three minority population groups about the current and future political systems are more positive than negative," said Harris.

The majority of respondents felt it was "very important" to live in a country that was governed democratically. The results, released on the eve of Freedom Day, were drawn from the World Values Survey - an extensive project conducted every five years. - Sapa