A boy carries a large water bottle on his shoulder from a communal tap in Barcelona, a sprawling settlement near Cape Town’s international airport where thousands live without piped water or proper sanitation.

The contrast hits hard. Just metres away, land acquired by a major data centre developer sits ready for a facility that could gulp down billions of litres of water each year while residents in metal shacks pay young boys a few rands to fetch their daily water supply.

This clash between high-tech expansion and basic human needs has pushed activists to demand South Africa hits pause on new data centre construction until the government writes proper rules for the booming industry.

“It’s a direct land issue,” said Kenneth Matlawe, an activist with the Housing Assembly movement who lived in Barcelona for 15 years. “It affects the water and sanitation policy. It affects socio-economic development because any form of development must benefit the community.”

Push for regulations

Housing Assembly has teamed up with UK non-profit Foxglove and other groups to challenge Cape Town’s decision to rezone land near Barcelona. US-based Equinix, which runs around 280 data centres worldwide, bought the property but managing director Sandile Dube told AFP the company has no immediate plans to build there.

If a project does go ahead, it would “follow the due process that takes into consideration some of the concerns that the local communities might have,” Dube said.

The appeal hearing took place this month, with a non-binding recommendation expected within 90 days.

South Africa already hosts more than 60 data centres, the most on the African continent. The government welcomes the investment, branding the country as “Africa’s digital gateway” and pointing to the fastest expansion rate on the continent.

But Housing Assembly and climate group Extinction Rebellion filed a petition to Cape Town’s mayor in September calling for a halt until “clearly defined, enforceable regulations and standards are in place to govern this rapidly expanding industry.”

Cape Town has around a dozen centres and has given the green light to five more.

Water and power hunger

The numbers paint a stark picture. Hyperscale data centre facilities using standard cooling methods could drink more than 4.4 billion litres of water a year, according to a submission to the South African Human Rights Commission. That matches the annual water use of more than 18 000 households.

Water supply remains a touchy subject in Cape Town, which nearly ran dry during the 2018 “Day Zero” crisis. Reports suggest the city could face restrictions from December as the warming El Niño weather pattern takes hold.

Dube said Equinix facilities use dry cooling that needs minimal water and aim to run on “biorenewable” energy to avoid straining local power grids.

But the power demands remain huge. A 160 MW data centre running at full load could use about 1.4 billion kWh a year, according to Pitso Tsibolane, a senior lecturer in information systems at the University of Cape Town.

“If we need to move forward at breakneck speed to roll out the red carpet and let industries build data centres, we need to have proper understanding of what the law allows and regulation needs to happen,” said Saadiyah Kadwa, a Legal Resources Centre attorney representing Housing Assembly and the other groups. “It’s not just Cape Town, it’s the entire South Africa.”

Jobs promise falls flat

Hopes that data centres would create much-needed jobs in a country struggling with high unemployment have also taken a knock.

“Once operating, they are among the least labour-intensive buildings in the economy,” Tsibolane said.

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Equinix’s centre outside Johannesburg employed around 750 people during construction but now runs with just 26 permanent staff.

Digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi said that while no specific regulations cover data centres, they must comply with existing building and environmental laws and prioritise “the self-provision of electricity and water.”

Tsibolane said a dedicated legal framework for hyperscale facilities must “require disclosure of electricity demand, water use, cooling design, backup generation and cumulative impact before approval, and make those conditions enforceable.”

“Serious investors are not deterred by clear rules,” he said.

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