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.

While Eskom contemplates the costs and implications of compliance with minimum emission standards and out-of-touch politicians extol the virtue of coal as an unblemished boon for South Africa and communities in Mpumalanga, ordinary men, women and children are denied their Section 24(b) Constitutional rights.

In the coal-rich heartlands of Mpumalanga, South Africa, residents breathe some of the world's most polluted air. This reality is felt most acutely in Thubelihle, a community of about 20,000 within eyesight of Eskom's Kriel and Matla Power Stations, and ringed by numerous mines.

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.

Thubelihle, our analysis shows, is at the confluence of severe air pollution, fly ash waste carried on winds and levels of socioeconomic and infrastructural deprivation that arguably make this Mpumalanga community among the...