Civil rights groups in South Africa have filed a legal challenge against two proposed Equinix data centres in Cape Town and called for a national moratorium on hyperscale development — the first coordinated attempt on the continent to slow AI infrastructure expansion.
“What we are saying is there should be a moratorium on data centers,” Kashiefa Achmat, chairperson of Cape Town advocacy group Housing Assembly, told Rest of World. “It must be across South Africa.”
Housing Assembly and UK-based nonprofit Foxglove lodged the challenge in August. Alongside other rights groups, they have asked the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate the projects’ impacts and impose a pause on hyperscale expansion, and are calling for regulations requiring operators to disclose water and electricity usage and deliver benefits to local communities.
The water figure
The groups put the proposed 174-megawatt Cape Town facilities at over 4.4 billion litres of water annually — as much as 18,000 homes would use in a year.
That is the first specific consumption figure attached to a named South African facility. Water objections have shadowed every major data centre approval this year, in Durban and Cape Town alike, without a number behind them.
It lands in a city that came close to running out of water in 2018.
“Our members know what it is to queue for water, to go without electricity, and to wait decades for decent housing,” Achmat said. “Now a massive data center is trying to jump the queue and take our land, water and energy.”
Equinix said sustainability is built into its approach. “Sustainable design is not an afterthought for us; it is a starting point,” a spokesperson told Rest of World.
The comparison Equinix now has to answer
Teraco published water usage effectiveness of 0.04 litres per IT kilowatt-hour for 2024, down from 0.10 in 2023, and states that its closed-loop systems do not depend on continual replenishment. Its new 30MW JB5 facility runs closed-loop cooling and will host its first AI workloads at scale.
Equinix has not published an equivalent figure for its Cape Town proposals. Whether the 4.4 billion litre estimate reflects evaporative cooling, closed-loop operation or something between it is the question that decides the argument — and the operator has the data.
Why now
The pushback reflects costs becoming visible, said Rachel Adams, founder of the Global Center on AI Governance. Where communities only learn of impacts after decisions are made, it can “create mistrust and play on the uneven power relationships between large tech providers and local communities.”
Adams also framed the moment as one of leverage rather than threat. “This is a strategic moment for African countries precisely because companies want access to new markets and locations.”
Daniel Kammen, professor of energy and climate justice at Johns Hopkins University, was blunter on disclosure. “These companies try to cut sweetheart deals with the government.”
Not only South Africa
Community groups near the stalled G42 and Microsoft project at Olkaria in Kenya have raised parallel concerns. Residents have not been informed about the impacts, said Silas Wanjala of the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association.
“If you bring in a data center and you don’t learn well the issues of water allocation, you risk … the floriculture and horticulture sector,” he said.
The 1-gigawatt project stalled in May partly over power requirements. G42 and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.
The protests also track a global pattern. Residents have organised against facilities in Virginia, California and Philadelphia. New York imposed a statewide moratorium of up to a year on hyperscale data centres in June. Farmers in India and Indigenous groups in Brazil have mounted similar campaigns.
The counter-argument
Africa holds roughly 409 megawatts of operational data centre capacity — under 1% of the global total, with a fifth of the world’s population.
Reaching one gigawatt could cost up to $8 billion, said Obinna Isiadinso, global lead for data centres and cloud at the International Finance Corporation. “And at 1 gigawatt, we will still be behind India, we will be behind Malaysia. Malaysia has 2 gigawatts of capacity.”
McKinsey projects continental demand could reach 2.2 gigawatts by 2030, about five times current levels. Microsoft has committed R5.4 billion by 2027, AWS $1.5 billion to 2029, and Equinix $438 million in South Africa.
Chinasa Okolo, founder of Washington-based policy incubator Technecultura, drew the distinction the debate turns on. “While I am not in opposition to data center expansion, I am against uncontrolled expansion that puts the livelihoods and health of vulnerable communities at risk.”
What the challenge actually asks for
The demands are procedural rather than prohibitive: mandatory disclosure of water and electricity use, community benefit requirements, and an investigation before further approvals.
Cape Town approved the 174MW in July. Equinix separately disclosed in August that it holds R7.5 billion in South African expansion budget and land in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, with no development yet under way on either parcel pending demand assessment.
Whether that caution now reflects demand alone is a fair question to put to the company.
Based on reporting by Rest of World.
