'Toti is becoming a battleground for data centres

Key topics:Amanzimtoti AI data centre linked to 2Africa cable investment planPower, water and environmental concerns raised; DA criticism of projectSapphire Coast tourism town evolving into major digital infrastructure hub.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Luis Monzon.Amanzimtoti in KwaZulu-Natal, known for its hot summers, year-round swimming, and the spectacular Sardine Run, is in line host one of the country’s largest data centre facilities.Thanks to its proximity to the 2Africa submarine cable landing point, the largest subsea cable system in the world, the town has become a strategic location choice for these facilities.Amanzimtoti is named after the aManzimtoti River that bisects the town. According to the popular legend, the river was named by Shaka, king of the Zulu.The story goes that Shaka stopped with his army on the banks of the river to drink during a campaign in the region. When tasting the water, he remarked, “Kanti, amanz’amtoti!”.Read more:.MTN eyes EU, US partners to boost AI data centres across Africa.The phrase meant “so, the water is sweet!” However, he used ‘amtoti’ instead of the regular isiZulu word for sweet, mnandi.Shaka’s devotion to his mother, Nandi, prevented him from uttering her name in vain. Therefore, he invented a word to replace ‘sweet,’ or so the legend goes.The first colonial-era infrastructure built in what would become Amanzimtoti was a mission station established by American missionary Newton Adams.After Adams died in 1851, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions began developing a school in the region. A church and a college were established in 1852 and 1853.These three structures, built by missionaries, were the first of what would eventually become the town. The first residence built in the area was called Klein Frystaat, owned by a man named Howard Wright.The first trains passed through Amanzimtoti in 1897. They were trains that ran between Durban, a rapidly growing British port town, and Isipingo, a notable sugarcane plantation area.By 1902, Amanzimtoti had its first hotel, built of wood and iron, and its first train station and station-master. It was still barely a town.Early reports indicated that by 1902, Amanzimtoti comprised one hotel, three or four houses and 12 huts clustered on the shore near the lagoon.In 1907, the town became home to an Irish explosives manufacturing facility, run by a group of 23 Irish workers who had brought their families over from Ireland.The gateway to the Sapphire Coast.The town grew quickly and had a population of 774 by 1934, several years before electricity was connected in 1938. Telephone lines followed in 1945.Running water was introduced shortly after in 1949, and by this time, Amanzimtoti had a post office, a telephone exchange, a tea room, and its first petrol pump. Its first newspaper was printed in 1955.Today, the town is referred to as “Toti” by its residents, with a total population of over 13,813 people as of the 2011 census.It garnered a reputation as a tourist destination, called the gateway to the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal and its beaches and warm weather.Some of its beaches have received legendary status among South Africa’s surfing community, including Warner Beach, where they offer tiger and hammerhead shark diving.Meanwhile, the Amanzimtoti main beach is another notable attraction on the Sapphire Coast, a 40km stretch of beaches and coastal forests.“The Sapphire Coast is a place where abundant natural beauty and wildlife exist alongside stylish modern shopping malls, luxury accommodation, restaurants and sports facilities,” said Durban Tourism.“It also has a rich sense of cultural diversity, from traditional Zulu art and crafts to spicy Indian food and the oldest natural golf course in the country.”The largest data centre facility in South Africa.In early 2026, the Korea Power Consortium approached the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality for approval to build an AI data centre in Amanzimtoti, promising a multi-billion rand investment.The municipality said in a statement that the development would include an AI training hub to “equip residents with future-ready digital skills” and that it would benefit the local community.Proximity to the 2Africa cable landing in the town would allow the data centre to achieve low latency for its AI services.In response to questions from the Democratic Alliance (DA), the municipality said in February that the process was still in its early stages and that the consortium had only approached for approval.The approval would remain subject to comprehensive public participation and consultation with key stakeholders and internal departments responsible for zoning, water, and electricity.André Beetge, DA eThekwini executive committee member and Ward 97 councillor, said that there are concerns that the AI data centre’s energy demands could not be met. “We are already battling unstable electricity supply and significant water losses exceeding 50%. Speaker, you have just reprioritised funding away from the Kingsburgh substation upgrade,” he said.“How then do we responsibly commit to a project of this magnitude without first stabilising core infrastructure?”Additionally, Beetge said the proposed site for the data centre is located in a sensitive environmental area, close to the ocean, potentially endangering the local biodiversity.Finally, the DA in eThekwini believed that the data centre would take attention and funding away from challenges the metro is already facing, including infrastructure degradation.“We cannot support a Memorandum of Agreement where energy and water impacts are undefined, environmental implications are unclear, and local economic participation is not guaranteed,” said Beetge..Read more:.Human neurons power next-gen data centres in Singapore and Melbourne.If reports that the consortium planned to build a 400MW facility were accurate, it would be the largest data centre facility in South Africa.The initial plan was for it to be operational sometime in the 2027/28 financial year, and it would consume more than a quarter of the municipality’s current electrical supply.eThekwini said in a briefing document that the city was planning to use “existing renewable energy resources in possession of the proposed development partner”, but no details were provided.Questions around the water supply also remained unanswered. Large data centres like the one proposed require millions of litres of water per day.Photos of Amanzimtoti.This article was first published by MyBroadband and is republished with permission.

'Toti is becoming a battleground for data centres

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