” The Institute commissioned a
survey of public opinion, which was conducted in February 1982, and which
is the first survey exclusively devoted to foreign affairs to be undertaken
in the Republic. The three major aspects explored in this study were, first, the white
public’s threat perceptions; secondly, the public’s views on ways of meeting threats and thirdly, the correlation between perceptions of foreign and domestic policy issues. The extent to which white South Africans have become threat-conscious, is reflected in the fact that over 70% of the
respondents (i) denied that the government was exaggerating the communist threat, (ii) believed that Zimbabwe constitutes a threat to South Africa’s security, and (iii) agreed that a terrorist war, as in Namibia, will in
time develop in South Africa.”
