South African lawmaker accused of pushing legal changes to benefit Elon Musk's Starlink

South Africa’s communications minister Solly Malatsi is under fire for proposing changes to local equity laws that critics say would favour foreign tech giants such as Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Khusela Sangoni Diko, chairperson of the portfolio committee on communications and digital technologies, said the minister is “seeking to erode hard-won transformation goals.”

“It appears these proposed directives and regulations are an attempt to undermine empowerment legislation by stealth and, should this be found to be the case, they will be fiercely opposed,” Diko said in a statement.

The country currently requires that at least 30% of any communications service provider be owned by historically disadvantaged groups to receive a licence. This requirement has so far prevented Starlink from entering the South African market, even though it operates in 17 other African countries, including Namibia and Botswana.

According to a Reuters report, Starlink’s parent company, SpaceX, had written to South Africa’s telecommunications regulator, ICASA, saying that the country’s local ownership laws posed a major obstacle. The company urged the regulator to reconsider the 30% ownership requirement for licensees and suggested introducing equity equivalent programmes as an alternative.

Following this, minister Malatsi announced plans to issue a policy directive to recognise equity equivalent programmes in the ICT sector. He claimed the move would help expand broadband access and make it easier for multinational companies to invest in South Africa.

Musk in March had criticised the South African government by claiming that Starlink was not permitted to operate in South Africa because he was “not Black.”

Starlink is not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I’m not black https://t.co/yOFafNValQ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2025

US president Donald Trump, and Elon Musk, have been accusing the South African government of "white genocide" and targeted farm attacks. They argue that South Africa’s Black-led government is unfairly targeting Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and French settlers.