Civil rights groups urge halt to South Africa data centres boom

South African civil rights groups are calling for a halt to the construction of additional data centres in the country until the use of scarce water, land and electricity resources has been investigated.

With South Africa positioning itself as Africa’s main data hub and US technology companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Equinix increasingly setting up digital infrastructure in the country, civil society organisations have raised the alarm about the lack of transparency around the projects.

The country’s rights watchdog, the South African Human Rights Commission, told The Associated Press that it has received over 250 submissions from interested groups after it called for input in May this year.

According to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the country hosts 70 per cent of Africa’s data centre capacity, and the Government has identified this as an opportunity in the global digital economy, inviting more tech companies to build digital infrastructure in the country.

However, as in other parts of the world, such as the US, where data centres have been increasing rapidly, their long-term environmental and societal impacts are coming under greater scrutiny.

The commission noted that the country had experienced “significant growth” in the establishment of data centres, cloud infrastructure and related digital systems.