The governance tracker records promises made in public by the government, ministries, provinces and local bodies, and whether they are being kept. Every status is decided by a person, never by software, and every change links to a source you can check.
What counts as a promise
- A specific, checkable commitment made on the record: in a speech, a policy programme, the budget, a cabinet decision, a manifesto adopted by the government, or an official statement.
- It names who is responsible and what will change. Where a deadline was given, we record it; where none was given, we say so.
- Vague aims ("improve governance") are not tracked. Promises in the first 100 days of a government carry the 100-days flag.
The five statuses
- Delivered
- The promised result exists and can be checked, in the form it was promised. Partial delivery stays In progress, with a note.
- In progress
- At least one concrete official step is on the record: money allocated, a tender issued, a bill tabled, a directive signed or a pilot running.
- Not started
- No public evidence of work yet: no budget line, tender, order, bill or official step.
- Stalled
- Work began but nothing has moved for 90 days, or an official source says it is on hold (court stay, dispute, funding gap).
- Broken
- The deadline passed without delivery, the promise was formally withdrawn, or official action contradicts it. A senior editor must approve every Broken status.
How a status changes
- Every morning at 06:00 the newsroom engine matches new stories to tracked promises and attaches them as evidence candidates. It drafts a note; it never changes a status.
- An editor reads the evidence and the original sources. A status changes only with at least one primary source (gazette, budget document, court order, official release) or two independent reports.
- Broken requires a second, senior editor. Status changes are dated, carry the note and the source link, and stay visible in the history: we never overwrite the past.
- Governments of every party are tracked in the same way. The tracker reports facts about whoever is in government.
Evidence and sources
Each promise page lists the stories used as evidence and every source. Counts on the tracker are real totals from the database; if the data is unavailable we show nothing rather than an estimate.
Disagree with a status?
Tell us why and send the source. The desk editor reviews every request and records the outcome on the promise.