Eight out of ten South Africans are satisfied with the performance of their president Thabo Mbeki, his highest rating since he came to power in 1999, according to a survey released on Thursday.

Meanwhile, three-quarters of the population, which surpasses 46million, think the government is doing a good job, also the highest score since Mbeki became president, found the SABC Markinor Opinion 2004 survey.

The poll showed the satisfaction level of 75 percent for national government was the highest ever since the African National Congress (ANC) government came to power 10 years ago, and14 percentage points more than the highest level during the NelsonMandela administration.

"Mbeki's personal score of 80 percent is the closest ever to the all time high of his predecessor. Mandela ended his term with a performance rating of 85 percent," the SAPA news agency said.

Mbeki secured his bid for the second term of office after he led the ruling ANC to win a landslide victory in the third all-race elections on April 14 by taking 279 of 400 seats of the national parliament.

The current ratings may have been influenced by positive factors including Mbeki's higher public profile during the elections, the country's celebration of 10 years of democracy, theimpact of winning the 2010 Soccer World Cup bid and general growthof the economy, the SAPA said.

However, the Mbeki administration is widely considered facing huge challenges such as poverty, unemployment rate as high as 42 percent, grave gap between the rich and the poor, high levels of violent crime, and HIV/AIDS epidemic that affects some 15 percent of the entire population.

The poll was conducted among 3,500 randomly-selected respondents from all walks of life in South Africa.

Source: Xinhua