Fewer than 20% of government air pollution monitoring stations were capturing reliable data last year, partly due to rolling blackouts. Adding to these problems, dozens of sophisticated measuring devices have been vandalised or stolen. Some stations have simply fallen into disrepair due to a lack of municipal funding and maintenance.

The importance of keeping accurate measurements to resolve complex problems has been stressed by thinkers and innovators for centuries. Advocates of this principle have included the British physicist Lord Kelvin and the American management theorist Peter Drucker, who remarked that: "What gets measured gets managed."

At a global level, the World Health Organization warns that nearly seven million die every year from outdoor and indoor air pollution. At a local level, roughly 30,000 South Africans are estimated to die prematurely each year from exposure to industrial smoke stack particles, traffic exhaust fumes or specks of soot in household air.

However, government data suggests that more than 80% of state-operated monitoring stations were either not working or not providing scientifically reliable data late last year.

Eskom power cuts and scrap metal thieves have wreaked havoc with dozens of sensitive and expensive measuring instruments, but many of the stations are also no longer operational because of the lack of maintenance of equipment or skilled staff shortages in three tiers of government.

The upshot is that only 25 out of more than 130 government-operated air quality monitoring stations were providing continuous and reliable data as of November 2023 - leaving major gaps...