Benchmark report

The Municipal Communications Index

A repeatable index of how well South African municipalities move information from source to resident.

In field — no findings claimed

Status: In field — no findings claimed
Expected: 31 March 2027
Reading time: 18 minutes
Subjects: Municipal communications, Government

Method and sample

Method

Desk-based assessment of publicly available municipal channels against a fixed rubric covering publication currency, accessibility to WCAG 2.1 AA, mobile performance, ward-level reach and response to public enquiry. Each municipality assessed twice, six weeks apart, by two assessors independently, with disagreements resolved by a third. Rubric published in full before assessment begins.

Sample

Target: all 8 metropolitan municipalities and a stratified sample of 40 district and local municipalities. Assessment window: October 2026 to January 2027. Non-response is not possible: the assessment uses only publicly available channels, which is itself part of the measure.

Key points

Assessed on publicly available channels only, because that is what a resident can reach.
Two independent assessors, disagreements resolved by a third.
Rubric published in full before assessment begins.
Measured twice, six weeks apart, so currency is tested rather than assumed.

Programme detail

Status: in field

Fieldwork opens October 2026. The rubric is published in advance so that any municipality can score itself before being scored, and so that the measure cannot be adjusted after the results are known.

Why publicly available channels only

A resident cannot access the intranet, the internal newsletter or the WhatsApp group of the communications unit. Assessing what is publicly reachable is not a limitation of the method. It is the method.

The rubric

Five dimensions, each scored on the five-point maturity scale, each score justified in one sentence citing the evidence observed.

Publication currency: is the most recent public information current, and by how many days does it lag.
Accessibility: does the primary channel meet WCAG 2.1 AA on the assessed pages.
Mobile performance: measured load time on a throttled connection, which is how most residents arrive.
Ward-level reach: is information available at the level at which residents experience service delivery.
Enquiry response: a public enquiry submitted through the published channel, and whether it is acknowledged.

Citations and downloads

Sources and references

[1]Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, Level AAThe accessibility standard applied.
[2]GoTo Communications, Municipal Communications Index rubric v1.0Published in advance of fieldwork. Available on request.

Download

Index rubric v1.0 (PDF)

The full scoring rubric, published before fieldwork opens.

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On what this page does not claim

This report is in field. No findings are available and none are claimed here. The method and sample above are published in advance so that the measure cannot be adjusted after the results are known.

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