South Africa, Sept. 15 -- Civil society activists have lodged a formal appeal against a land use approval that will allow US 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 Municipal Planning Tribunal on 14 July.

The Housing Assembly and technology justice organisation Foxglove, represented by the Legal Resources Centre, say 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.

The activists say the...