Activists appeal Cape Town approval of Equinix hyperscale data centre

Civil society activists have lodged a formal appeal against a land use approval that will allow United States technology company Equinix to build a hyperscale data centre at King Air Industria in Cape Town. The application for rezoning, subdivision, consolidation and amendment of conditions, which paves the way for one, possibly two, data centres, was approved by the City of Cape Town's Municipal Planning Tribunal on 14 July.

The Housing Assembly and technology justice organisation Foxglove, represented by the Legal Resources Centre, argue that the application should have been rejected because of inadequate information about the data centre's impact on surrounding communities, in particular on electricity and water resources. They say the tribunal wrongly treated the matter as a simple rezoning application, and that its decision created a new “data centre” category of land use.

In their appeal the objectors say there were “critical information gaps” in the application and that the issue goes far beyond the tribunal's approval, speaking to what they describe as the City of Cape Town persistently failing to meet its constitutional imperatives to protect, promote and advance residents' rights to environmental protection, protection of property rights, adequate housing, and sufficient food and water. They submit that the proposed 174 megavolt-ampere facility would be built adjacent to the Barcelona informal settlement, Bishop Lavis, Gugulethu and KTC — areas where many residents still struggle for reliable access to water and electricity in a city that came within weeks of “Day Zero” in 2018.

One reason the tribunal cited for approval was “positive economic impact” through job creation and support of “downstream industries”, but the activists say no report backed that up and that the tribunal failed to consider the competing interests of communities who were never consulted. They add that the application did not deal with water, emissions, electricity, air pollution, noise or building plans, and that they obtained Equinix's response to their objection only through an access to information request days before the hearing.

The appeal follows a joint report by the same organisations, together with Open Secrets, Research + Action and the Planetary AI Collective, to the South African Human Rights Commission calling for national rules for the data centre sector, including mandatory disclosure of every data centre's water and electricity use. Housing Assembly member Kashiefa Achmat said: “Our members know what it is to queue for water, to go without electricity and to wait decades for decent housing. Now a massive data centre is trying to jump the queue and take our land, water and energy.” Foxglove co-executive director Rosa Curling said no new data centres should be built in Cape Town unless and until the city had the full facts of the ultimate impact on the environment and critical resources.

Equinix, which says it operates more than 280 data centres in 36 countries, can make submissions in the appeal process. The company is on record as saying it has bought the land in Cape Town but has not yet submitted a site development plan, and that when it does it will be fully transparent and engage with stakeholders. Cape Town deputy mayor Eddie Andrews, who is mayco member for spatial planning and environment, said the matter is subject to an appeal process and the city is therefore unable to comment on the merits of the appeal or pre-empt the decision of the Planning Appeals Authority.