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Specialised local government data and intelligence service company, Municipal IQ says South Africa had almost one protest every second day this year.
It says Gauteng and the Eastern Cape were the most protest-ridden provinces in 2013.
The company's economist, Karen Heese says what is worrying about the Eastern Cape, is that protests did not only take place in urban areas stressed by in-migration, like those in Uitenhage in November, but they spread to smaller towns like Cookhouse and Port St Johns and more remote areas like Matolweni.
Municipal IQ head, Kevin Allan said the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, which had the worst productivity ratings of all the provinces, experienced an increase in protests this year.
Allan said seven of the 10 best-performing local municipalities were in the Western Cape, while the lowest performance scores were in Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
