{"id":91448,"date":"2026-07-31T14:32:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=91448"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:06:30","slug":"outlier-166-data-centres-cable-theft-big-movies-voter-apathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/07\/31\/outlier-166-data-centres-cable-theft-big-movies-voter-apathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Outlier #166: Data centres, cable theft, big movies, voter apathy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"947\" height=\"188\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/unnamed.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/unnamed.png 947w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/unnamed-400x79.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/unnamed-768x152.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 947px) 100vw, 947px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83d\udca1 Let\u2019s talk about experts. At\u00a0<em>The Outlier,<\/em>\u00a0we\u2019re heavily dependent on the work of domain experts who do the excellent research and analysis that many of our charts are based upon. As journalists, we do our best to understand the nuances of the data the research presents, but we\u2019re more generalists than specialists. While we do our best to reflect the data, we are very often not experts on most of the subjects we cover. Fortunately, we do have many readers and members who have more expertise and are willing to offer suggestions and advice. But we don\u2019t have enough. I\u2019ve been thinking about how we can fix this, and I think there are two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you consider yourself an expert on something and you\u2019re open to us asking your opinion, please get in touch\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theoutlier.co.za\/volunteer-expert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. Your expertise could be literally anything. We tend to cover topics like education, economics, renewable energy and politics more than others, but we enjoy looking at sports, lifestyle and hobbies just as much.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theoutlier.co.za\/volunteer-expert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Register your willingness<\/a>\u00a0with no obligation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you\u2019re willing to help not just us but others, then register on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/quotethiswoman.org.za\/for-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Quote this Woman+ database of experts<\/a>. The database is an enormously important resource for journalists looking for expert commentary from a broad range of experts, not just the usual voices.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/quotethiswoman.org.za\/for-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Register here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0\ud83d\udc47\ud83c\udffe In today\u2019s newsletter we look at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Young homebuyers<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>South Africa\u2019s data centres<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cable theft convictions<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Christopher Nolan\u2019s Odyssey<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Youth voters<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfe1 Generation rent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EN_-29-July-2026.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EN_-29-July-2026.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EN_-29-July-2026-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EN_-29-July-2026-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EN_-29-July-2026-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People in their early 30s aren\u2019t buying as many homes as they used to in South Africa, according to data from Lightstone Property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 20 years between 2005 and 2025, the number of homes bought by people aged 35 and younger dropped by 58%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rising house prices, stricter bond requirements and higher interest rates combined with stagnant wages and high unemployment are to blame for this drop, said Lightstone Properties. The unemployment rate is 40.6% for people in the 25-34 age group, according to Statistics South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The older you are, the more likely you are to own your home. Only 7% of properties are owned by under-35s (who make up 37% of the population), and 68% of properties are owned by people over 50 (29% of the population).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd0b Data hype<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cape Town&#8217;s planning tribunal earlier this month\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/groundup.org.za\/article\/giant-data-centres-get-the-first-green-light-from-cape-town-tribunal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gave the first green light<\/a>\u00a0to two enormous data centres near the airport, in King Air Industria \u2014 a combined 120,000m\u00b2 (about 14 rugby fields), built by US giant Equinix. Together they&#8217;d draw around 174 megawatts of power, enough for roughly 130,000 homes, and by one estimate could use up to 4.4-billion litres of water a year for cooling. Objectors argued the application barely detailed its water and electricity needs, a gap they called &#8220;insulting&#8221; in a city that lived through Day Zero. The tribunal approved it anyway, treating it as a technical zoning matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That approval got us thinking. There are many large data centres in the early stages of proposal or development but what of the existing infrastructure? We researched operational data centres around the country. The result: 58 confirmed operational facilities, overwhelmingly clustered around Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (38 sites), with smaller footholds in Cape Town (10), Durban (6), and one-off sites in Stellenbosch, Bloemfontein, East London and Gqeberha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Datacentres.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Datacentres.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Datacentres-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Datacentres-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Datacentres-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the major challenges when discussing data centres is that they are not all the same. So we sorted them into five simple types: hyperscale\/wholesale are the giants with massive buildings built and leased to a single big customer, usually a cloud company. Retail\/colocation sites rent out smaller chunks \u2014 a rack here, a cage there \u2014 to lots of different businesses. Edge sites are smaller centres, planted closer to people to shave milliseconds off load times when we\u2019re browsing the web. Telecoms sites are run by network operators mostly to power their own infrastructure. Connect sites are neutral meeting points where different networks plug into each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s also why the hyperscaler dots draw the most scrutiny: a single campus can rival a small city&#8217;s power draw and drink through billions of litres of water a year cooling its servers. Retail, edge, telecoms and connect sites are comparatively tiny by contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not on the map are sites still under construction, planned or proposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udea8 Reclaiming connections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cable-Theft-convictions.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cable-Theft-convictions.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cable-Theft-convictions-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cable-Theft-convictions-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cable-Theft-convictions-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A record 21 people were convicted of cable theft and infrastructure crimes in Johannesburg between January and March 2026, accounting for nearly 60% of all convictions recorded during the entire 2025\/26 financial year. Yet the full-year picture is far less dramatic, with annual convictions inching up from 35 in 2024\/25 to just 36 in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">City Power says progress in bringing offenders to justice is thanks to strengthened security strategies, increased court participation by personnel (130 court appearances in 2025\/26), and tighter collaboration with law enforcement and prosecutors. Those convicted face a combined 261.5 years in prison, at an average of 7.3 years per suspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The utility is also focusing its attention on illegal connections, with the number doubling year-on-year, from 1,157 to 2,551.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall infrastructure incidents such as cable theft and vandalism dropped from 1,138 to 1,054. But infrastructure damage remains a continuous disruption, averaging nearly three incidents every single day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Produced in partnership with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ourcitynews.co.za\/joburg-by-numbers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Our City News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfac Blockbuster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Odyssey.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Odyssey.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Odyssey-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Odyssey-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Odyssey-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Director Christopher Nolan\u2019s latest blockbuster,\u00a0<em>The Odyssey<\/em>, has had one of the strongest opening runs of the director\u2019s career, earning $334.2-million at the US domestic box office in just 13 days, falling just shy of his second-highest-grossing film of all time,\u00a0<em>The Dark Knight<\/em>, by just $8.5-million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just two weeks into its run,<em>\u00a0The Odyssey<\/em>\u00a0has already generated $696.8-million worldwide. While it still has several weeks left in cinemas, the film has already earned 64% of the $1.085-billion worldwide box office that <em>The Dark Knight Rises<\/em>, his highest-grossing film of all time, has achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the figures are not adjusted for inflation,\u00a0<em>The Odyssey<\/em>\u2019s early performance suggests the film is on track to become one of the highest-grossing entries in Nolan\u2019s filmography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\uddf3\ufe0f Voter apathy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-1.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-1-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-1-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Young people are showing less and less interest in local government elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2005, 30% of 18- and 19-year-olds surveyed by the IEC reported being registered to vote. In 2021, it was only 15%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the same survey, 49% of 20- to 24-year-olds in 2021 were registered, compared to 57% in 2005, while 79% of 25- to 34-year-olds were registered in 2021, compared to 86% in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Young people are also less likely than older people to actually turn out on election day. Among people aged 18 and 19, 71% of registered voters turned out in 2021. This may seem impressive, but remember only about 15% of this age group were registered, according to the IEC survey. So the few who have newly registered are generally keen to participate in the elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among people aged 20 to 29, only 35% of registered voters turned out in 2021, down from 50% in 2016. The figures were similar for people aged 30 to 39.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voter turnout for people 40 and older averaged 54% \u2013 down from 62% in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91454\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-2.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-2-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/30-July-2026-GroundUp-chart-2-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Read the full\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/groundup.org.za\/article\/young-people-stay-home-on-voters-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GroundUp<\/a>\u00a0article here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theoutlier.co.za\/newsletter-references?utm_source=outlierafrica.beehiiv.com&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=132-this-week-in-charts-31-october-2025&amp;_bhlid=4d3abe68c939bd5241b17df047afbf40ad35b127\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here for a link to all references for this newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1386,1387,1380],"tags":[1434,1478,1476,1470,40],"newsletter-post":[],"site":[],"class_list":["post-91448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publication","category-the-outlier","category-this-week-in-charts","tag-city-power","tag-data-centres","tag-film","tag-local-government-elections","tag-south-africa"],"acf":{"big_number":"","big_number_caption":"","big_number_link":"","big_number_background":"","big_number_text_colour":"#000000","big_number_icon":false,"big_number_wide":"yes","featured_chart":false,"flourish_chart_id":"","flourish_sub_title":"","flourish_chart_width":"medium","is_newsletter_post":"No","post_style":"bc","show_on_front":"Yes","link_through":"Yes","chart_url":"","background_colour":"#0089AA","text_colour":"#FFFFFF"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91455,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91448\/revisions\/91455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91448"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-post?post=91448"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=91448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}