Frequently asked questions
Is this a political site?
No. We grade services, not parties or people. There are no party names, logos, or politician images anywhere on the site, in our share cards, or in our copy. Grades are attached to service pillars and the institutions that run them — Joburg Water, City Power, JRA, CoJ — never to coalitions or officials.
Who funds you?
Grants and public donations only. Every funder appears on the About page with the amount and period. We accept no funding from political parties, sitting officials, party-affiliated foundations, or entities we grade.
Why is X not graded?
Because we couldn't source it from an official, audited, or statutory publication with sufficient recency. A pillar with fewer than three live indicators — or less than 60% Tier A/B weight — is shown as 'Not graded — insufficient data' with a note on what data would fix it. This state is designed, not an error.
The city disputes your number — now what?
We publish their response verbatim in a distinct 'The city responds' block within 48 hours. If they demonstrate an error, we correct the page with a visible correction note and log it in the public changelog. The methodology is versioned in Git; nothing changes silently.
Why grade Safety when SAPS is national?
Because residents experience safety at the city level regardless of which sphere of government is responsible. The pillar carries an explicit attribution note distinguishing SAPS (national) from JMPD (municipal by-law enforcement).
How often does this update?
Operational Tier C metrics refresh monthly on the first Tuesday. Grades are reviewed quarterly against Treasury S71 and SAPS data. The full annual Report Card lands 2–4 weeks after the AGSA MFMA release.
Can I use your charts in my article?
Yes. Everything on the site is CC BY 4.0. Every chart has an 'Embed' button. Both live and frozen (per-month) embed variants are available so news articles never silently change after publication.
Do you have an API?
Everything is served as static JSON at /api/*.json — cache-immutable, backed by Git commits. See the Data page for the endpoint list.