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South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk has traded barbs with EFF leader Julius Malema
South Africa’s fourth-largest political party, which has long warred with billionaire Elon Musk, has warned it will “never allow” Musk’s Starlink satellite service to be launched in the country.
In an address to parliament on Friday, at the department of communications & digital technologies’ budget vote debate, EFF MP Sinawo Thambo said his party vehemently objected to plans to introduce equity equivalence investment programmes in the ICT sector.
Equity equivalents have been championed by the communications minister, the Democratic Alliance’s Solly Malatsi, who has insisted that proposed changes to licensing rules have nothing to do with Musk or Starlink specifically, but are aimed to maximising investment in the sector and accelerating economic growth.
There’s a security threat that it poses that [means it] must never be allowed to operate in South Africa
Current licensing rules compel companies seeking licences through communications regulator Icasa to sell 30% of their equity to black investors. Some foreign companies are precluded from doing this, or choose not to, and the proposed changes to the licensing regime would allow them to make investments in areas like skills development instead.
Starlink, which is owned by SpaceX, has repeatedly said it is keen to invest in the country – but not if it has to sell 30% of the equity in its South African operation. Musk himself has objected the rules, saying they prevent him from launching Starlink “because I’m not black”.
“This is a proposal we’ve objected to, because the so-called alignment would require an amendment to legislation, and this cannot be achieved through a ministerial policy directive,” Thambo claimed in his speech to parliament on Friday.
‘Economic and diplomatic terrorism’
“In our view, this is all in service of allowing Starlink to operate in South Africa, and we must be clear that we will never allow Starlink, which has weaponised misinformation and captured the White House, to erode US and South African diplomatic relations in order to ease business access in South Africa,” he said.
“We view that as economic and diplomatic terrorism and … even if Starlink were to meet equity equivalence requirements, there’s a security threat that it poses that [means it] must never be allowed to operate in South Africa, and we will never allow it to do so,” he threatened.
Read: Starlink to South Africa: ‘We are ready to invest’
Pambo didn’t elaborate on his threat, or how exactly the EFF would attempt to prevent Starlink’s launch in South Africa should it be granted a licence to operate locally.
Musk and EFF leader Julius Malema have long traded barbs on Musk’s social media platform, X. Among other posts attacking Malema, the South African-born billionaire has accused the firebrand politician of inciting “white genocide”, specifically citing examples where Malema led chants like “shoot to kill” and “kill the boer, kill the farmer”. He has called for Malema to be sanctioned and declared an international criminal”.
Julius Malema. Image: EFF
Malema hit back, calling Musk a “typical racist”.
In his speech, Thambo claimed Malatsi does not have the power to amend licensing rules in the ICT sector through a policy direction to Icasa. The policy direction, aimed at allowing equity equivalents in licensing, is currently in draft form. Thambo said the EFF “unequivocally rejects” the department of communications’ budget allocation and would vote against it. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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