Imagine your neighbour built a noisy factory next to your house without your permission, which chowed your community’s electricity and water. How would that make you feel? Now imagine, even worse, that there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop them from chowing your water because there are no laws stopping them from doing so. This is what might happen if the government approves unregulated data centres.
Edwin, data centres are building facilities that house computer servers. They are like storage, but for digital information. Think of a computer drive, but bigger, like a house. They overheat and make noise, kind of like how computers and laptops overheat and make noise. And because they are bigger? The noise they make is loud. They require lots of water to cool themselves and electricity because they have to run constantly.
Currently, there are plans to build many of them in our country, with four already approved [1]. This is why we are calling on the government to pause all plans to build data centres until we have regulations in place. We need regulations that will enable the government to monitor and enforce laws, and allow communities to set the conditions under which these data centres should operate.
Can you add your name here to demand that the government pause all data centre plans until regulations are in place?
AI use is currently on the rise, which is driving aggressive expansion of data centres, as more digital storage is needed to store the information AI uses. The problem is that if we do not put regulatory systems in place that prioritise communities, we might find ourselves in a position where communities are competing for resources like electricity and water with machines, and having to live with constant noise and air pollution. It would be a nightmare. We have to demand that the government act before it’s too late.
We have always come together in the past to protect the interests of people in our communities, and this time we have to do it again. We cannot allow governments to let big foreign tech companies set up shop in our backyards without a say, or even let them operate without regulations.
Add your name here to demand that the government pause all data centre plans until regulations are in place. https://identity.amandla.mobi/clicks/link/4247/57a46a7d-3845-4001-a92d-b48e52114fca?url=https%3A%2F%2Fawethu.amandla.mobi%2Fpetitions%2Fno-new-data-centres-until-we-have-regulations%3Futm_source%3Damandla%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dblast2026-08-28&member_guid=cb8fa47115a677f76aa6c4ee3b9da27912588be6ab95349ade5b0db44e4bde234355e9733bb4a828579e69ea8edd6b51f979a9c38c1cd742f0a993a78b01b539&identity-signature=5c43d3389034ee6ad31f202c7cb94dda78a98a31ae17877d781ba873378ded62
These companies will make a lot of money from data centres, and we cannot allow our government to prioritise foreign profits over the living conditions of people in this country.
Together for justice,
Tebogo for amandla .mobi.