South African MP accused of carrying forward legal changes to benefit the Starlink of Elon Musk
South Africa’s Communications Minister Solli Malatasi is in fire to propose a change in local equity laws, stating that Foreign Technical Giants such as Elon Musk’s Starlinks will be side.
Portfolio Committee Chairman Khusla Sangni Dicko said that the minister is “demanding the destruction of the hard-won change goals” on communication and digital technologies. “
Dicko said in a statement, “It appears that these proposed instructions and regulations are secretly an attempt to reduce the empowerment law and this case should be found, they will be strongly opposed.”
Currently, the country needs that at least 30% of any communication service provider is owned by historically deprived groups to obtain license. This requirement has so far stopped Starlink from entering the South African market, even though it operates in 17 other African countries, including Namibia and Botswana.
According to a report by Reuters, Starlink’s original company, Spacex wrote to South Africa’s telecom regulator, Ikasa, saying that the country’s local ownership laws introduced a major obstacle. The company urged the regulator to rethink 30% ownership requirement for licenses and to introduce equity equivalent programs as an alternative.
Subsequently, Minister Malatsi announced a plan to issue a policy direction to recognize the equity equivalent programs in the ICT sector. He claimed that the move would help expand broadband access and it would be easy for multinational companies to invest in South Africa.
In March, Musk criticized the South African government that it was claimed that Starlink was not allowed to work in South Africa as it was “not black.”
US President Donald Trump, and Elon Musk, are accusing the South African government of “white massacre” and targeting farm attacks. He argues that the government of South Africa is incorrectly targeting the descendants of Dutch and French settlers.
