DRAFT: Municipal finances in crisis: Johannesburg and Cape Town in historical comparison
The City of Johannesburg is widely regarded as being in crisis, requiring a Presidential intervention in early 2025 to address the poor state of its governance, finances and service delivery. However, while the symptoms of a crisis are plainly visible, its precise contours and its underlying causes and dynamics need to be defined more precisely if there is to be an adequate response. This interactive visualisation deepens understanding of the crisis by comparing the City’s finances to that of the City of Cape Town for the period 2008/09–2025/26
Date of publication:
December 2025
Author(s):
The Quality of Life Index 2020/21
The GCRO’s Quality of Life Index is based on a multidimensional understanding of quality of life. It combines 33 variables into seven dimensions, each of which supports the understanding of a particular aspect of wellbeing. These dimension scores are then aggregated to provide a single, overarching Quality of Life Index score out of 100. This visualisation illustrates the Quality of Life Index scores and dimension scores for Gauteng and its municipalities.
Date of publication:
September 2021
Author(s):
Linked to project(s):
Quality of Life Survey 6 (2020/21)
Change in exponential growth of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa and Gauteng
This visualisation shows how the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases has changed over time in the provinces of South Africa and districts in Gauteng. As the first COVID-19 cases were recorded in South Africa, growth was exponential, but the rate of growth has changed over time
Date of publication:
August 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng Advancing data visualisation (2021)
Household characteristics in relation to COVID-19 risks in Gauteng
The structure of our households, the infrastructure we have access to, and where we come from, all shape our daily lives, and influence our access to various resources and forms of support. This visualisation explores the relationships between various household characteristics and exposure to factors that are expected to impact vulnerability in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Date of publication:
June 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng Advancing data visualisation (2021)
De-densifying Gauteng: A thought experiment
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns that dense urban areas increase the risk of transmission and one of the proposed responses includes de-densifying parts of cities in order to reduce the transmission of the virus. In response, this interactive visualisation represents a thought experiment and an attempt to understand the relationship between density, population size and land area in Gauteng.
Date of publication:
June 2020
