Political stability during each president's tenure

Every president since 1991, ranked by how the political stability changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

#	President	In office	Total	Per year	Chart
1	Thabo Mbeki	14 Jun 1999 – 25 Sep 2008	+10.5 points 1998 → 2008	+1.0 points/yr
2	Cyril Ramaphosa	15 Feb 2018 – now	+0.1 points 2017 → 2025	0.0 points/yr
3	Jacob Zuma	9 May 2009 – 15 Feb 2018	−6.7 points 2008 → 2017	−0.7 points/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in points; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. points, 0 to 100, higher is better · World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators (GOV_WGI_PV.SC): perceptions of the likelihood of political instability or politically motivated violence, terrorism included, a score from 0 to 100 with its 90 % interval · South Africa data · as of Oct 2026.