A senior South African MP on Monday accused communications minister Solly Malatsi of searching for to erode the nation’s legal guidelines on native possession to appease international companies seeking to work within the nation, which embrace Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Final 12 months, Malatsi, a Democratic Alliance MP, mentioned he would challenge a coverage directive on the popularity of fairness equal programmes in his sector to speed up broadband entry and usher in multinationals who couldn’t adjust to native fairness possession necessities.
The Digital Communications Act states that traditionally deprived teams should maintain no less than 30% fairness in any potential licensee searching for to function in South Africa’s telecommunications, broadcasting or postal sectors.
Starlink’s father or mother firm, SpaceX, wrote to communications regulator Icasa that native shareholding legal guidelines had been a big barrier and that it ought to rethink the 30% possession requirement for licensees by introducing fairness equal programmes instead.
The chair of the portfolio committee on communications & digital applied sciences, the ANC’s Khusela Diko, mentioned in a press release the minister was searching for to “erode hard-won transformation objectives” by seeking to bypass the act.
“It seems these proposed directives and laws are an try and undermine empowerment laws by stealth and, ought to this be discovered to be the case, they are going to be fiercely opposed,” Diko mentioned.
‘Obsession’
She referred to cellular operator MTN and American low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite tv for pc supplier Lynk’s trial of Africa’s first satellite tv for pc voice name utilizing a smartphone for example of partnerships achieved inside native legal guidelines.
“These initiatives underscore the significance of fast-tracking South Africa’s satellite tv for pc programme, and that there isn’t any want for overreliance and obsession with a single satellite tv for pc supplier,” Diko mentioned, in clear reference to Starlink.
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“A number of different satellite tv for pc suppliers have indicated eager curiosity in getting into the South African market and in compliance with our legal guidelines.”
The minister’s workplace was not instantly out there for remark. — (c) 2025 Reuters
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