The News24 team says that the index gives a detailed view of every municipality in the country, with interactive elements that allow readers to see how important changes might impact the index score of their municipality.

"This project comes just in time as South Africans prepare to vote in this year's municipal elections. It is an extremely valuable tool to help voters decide if their municipalities are worth trusting with their ballots or not," says News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson.

"It is the first data journalism project of its nature and I am very proud of our colleagues for bringing tons of data, research, statistics and analysis together in such an accessible and visually appealing way," adds Basson.

Based on the Out of Order index, News24 has identified 49 municipalities that have not featured on previously published Auditor General or Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) lists. They have also identified which score lower than the average of those known problematic municipalities.

These include municipalities across six provinces. They are dominated by KwaZulu-Natal (23), followed by:
  • the Eastern Cape (11)
  • Limpopo (9)
  • Northern Cape (3)
  • North West (2), and
  • Mpumalanga (1).
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