---
title: "Mapped: Where coal pollution hits hardest in South Africa"
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Articles"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-04-mapped-where-coal-pollution-hits-hardest-in-south-africa/"
published: "2025-08-04T00:00:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 471
---

# Mapped: Where coal pollution hits hardest in South Africa

Published 4 August 2025, 02:00 SAST

## Content

## Pinpointing Pollution

Daily Maverick’s geo-journalism investigation reveals how Thubelihle in Mpumalanga and other townships suffer the worst of SA’s coal pollution crisis.

## Pinpointing Pollution

Daily Maverick’s geo-journalism investigation reveals how Thubelihle in Mpumalanga and other townships suffer the worst of SA’s coal pollution crisis.

## [(Part 1): The Mpumalanga town where South Africans suffer most](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-03-pinpointing-pollution-part-1-the-mpumalanga-town-where-south-africans-suffer-most/)

Thubelihle, a township in Mpumalanga, appears unremarkable on a map — until the layers are added: coal plants, population density, lack of healthcare and clouds of ash. It’s here that our geo-journalism investigation reveals how pollution settles hardest where people are most vulnerable.

By Ethan van Diemen

## [(Part 2) Photo Essay: Living and dying in Thubelihle](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-03-pinpointing-pollution-part-2-living-and-dying-in-thubelihle/)

In part 2 of Daily Maverick’s mapping project on air pollution, we see and hear from community members in Thubelihle, Mpumalanga.

By Ethan van Diemen

## [(Part 3): Mapping SA’s most at-risk communities](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-03-pinpointing-pollution-part-3-mapping-sas-most-at-risk-communities/)

Using Google Earth Engine, Daily Maverick layered satellite-derived pollution exposure data with indicators of vulnerability, including poverty, lack of healthcare access and proximity to emissions sources, to identify one of South Africa’s most at-risk communities.

By Lieke Heuvelmans

![thubelihle mine](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DJI_0997-2.jpg?fit=720%2C448&quality=89&ssl=1)

## [Pinpointing Pollution (Part 1) — The Mpumalanga town where South Africans suffer most](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-03-pinpointing-pollution-part-1-the-mpumalanga-town-where-south-africans-suffer-most/)

Thubelihle, a township in Mpumalanga, appears unremarkable on a map — until the layers are added: coal plants, population density, lack of healthcare and clouds of ash. It’s here that our geo-journalism investigation reveals how pollution settles hardest where people are most vulnerable.

By Ethan van Diemen

## [Pinpointing Pollution (Part 2): Living and dying in Thubelihle](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-03-pinpointing-pollution-part-2-living-and-dying-in-thubelihle/)

In part 2 of Daily Maverick’s mapping project on air pollution, we see and hear from community members in Thubelihle, Mpumalanga.

By Ethan van Diemen

![COP30 climate negotiator](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1241-2.jpg?fit=720%2C440&quality=89&ssl=1)

![kriel power station](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1193-2.jpg?fit=720%2C418&quality=89&ssl=1)

## [Pinpointing Pollution (Part 3): Mapping SA’s most at-risk communities](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-03-pinpointing-pollution-part-3-mapping-sas-most-at-risk-communities/)

Using Google Earth Engine, Daily Maverick layered satellite-derived pollution exposure data with indicators of vulnerability, including poverty, lack of healthcare access and proximity to emissions sources, to identify one of South Africa’s most at-risk communities.

By Ethan van Diemen

## Ethan van Diemen

Ethan van Diemen is a data and investigative journalist based in Cape Town. Formerly based in Johannesburg as an Open Society Foundation Investigative Journalism Fellow, his reporting is at the intersection of the science of climate change, energy and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa. He is part of the first cohort of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network.

## Lieke Heuvelmans

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