Civil society organisations in South Africa are calling for a temporary halt to approvals for new data centres until the government investigates their impact on the country’s scarce water, electricity and land resources.
The demand comes as South Africa strengthens its position as Africa’s leading data centre hub, attracting major US technology companies including Amazon, Microsoft and Equinix to establish digital infrastructure in the country.
However, rights groups and environmental advocates have raised concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the rapidly expanding industry and its potential impact on local communities and public resources.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the country’s rights watchdog, told The Associated Press that it had received more than 250 submissions from interested organisations and individuals after inviting public input in May.
South Africa hosts about 70 per cent of Africa’s data centre capacity, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa. His administration has identified the sector as an important opportunity for participation in the global digital economy and has encouraged more technology companies to invest in the country.
But the rapid expansion of data centres has also triggered concerns similar to those emerging in other parts of the world, including the United States, where the environmental and social costs of the facilities are increasingly under scrutiny.
The SAHRC said South Africa had experienced “significant growth” in the development of data centres, cloud infrastructure and related digital systems.
Dr Eileen Carter, who is leading the commission’s preliminary process, said concerns had emerged over the availability and transparency of information relating to the sector.
“A key issue emerging from the process is precisely the availability, consistency and transparency of information relating to matters such as electricity and water demand, land use, infrastructure requirements, environmental impacts and impacts on surrounding communities,” Carter said.
One of the projects that has generated concern is an Equinix hyperscale data centre approved for construction in Cape Town.
The project is particularly sensitive because Cape Town narrowly avoided “Day Zero” in 2018, when severe water shortages threatened to leave the city’s taps dry.
The proposed facility is also expected to require about 160 megawatts of electricity, raising concerns in a country that endured years of widespread power shortages known as load-shedding.
Although South Africa appears to have moved beyond the worst of its electricity crisis, with power utility Eskom reporting a surplus during the winter peak-demand period, civil society groups remain concerned about allocating excess electricity to energy-intensive data centres.
Experts supporting a temporary pause in new approvals say the move should not be interpreted as opposition to foreign investment.
Instead, they argue that clear and enforceable rules would give investors greater certainty while ensuring that the environmental and social costs of data centre development are properly assessed.
“Serious investors are not deterred by clear rules. They price uncertainty, and an unregulated boom is the most uncertain environment of all,” said Pitso Tsibolane, a senior lecturer in Information Systems at the University of Cape Town.
Tsibolane said one of the sector’s major weaknesses was the absence of mandatory commitments by operators to disclose the quantities of water, electricity and land their facilities would consume.
As a result, he argued, authorities and communities were being asked to assess individual projects without access to consistent figures on their resource requirements.
Data centre operators, however, have pushed back against comparisons with large facilities in the United States, arguing that their water, land and electricity requirements are considerably higher.
Industry representatives also point to Eskom’s current power surplus and the increasing use of renewable energy to meet the electricity needs of data centres.
Sasha Booth-Beharilal, chairperson of the Internet Service Providers Association, said the sector was not responsible for South Africa’s electricity challenges.
“It should be clear that the growth in energy demand due to data centers is not contributing to electricity scarcity in South Africa and that this increasing demand is not a cause of rising electricity tariffs,” Booth-Beharilal said.
She added that local data centres were increasingly adopting technologies designed to reduce their water consumption.
“Local data centers apply new technologies to minimize their water usage, which is substantially lower than the global average,” she said.
The association represents technology companies operating in South Africa’s internet and data centre sectors.
The growing dispute highlights the challenge facing South Africa as it seeks to attract investment in the digital economy while balancing the demands of data infrastructure against the country’s limited water, electricity and land resources.
