Written by ELON MUSK CALLS PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA RACIST — STARLINK WAR EXPLODES IN SOUTH AFRICA
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a South Africa-born billionaire, has launched a direct attack on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government accusing it of blocking his satellite internet company Starlink from operating in South Africa simply because he is not Black.
Musk posted on X: “South Africa won’t allow Starlink to be licensed, even though I was BORN THERE, simply because I am not Black!”
He also claimed Starlink was offered the chance to bribe its way to a licence by falsely listing a Black South African as the company’s local operator an offer he says he rejected on principle.
But President Ramaphosa’s government is pushing back hard.
Officials say South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) law requires ALL telecom companies regardless of who owns them to have at least 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups. This law was born from the wounds of apartheid. It is not about Musk’s skin colour. It is about healing a nation that was robbed for generations.
Other global companies have entered South Africa by partnering with local Black-owned entities. Musk has so far refused to do the same.
Africa must ask itself is this a man fighting racism, or a billionaire who simply refuses to play by the rules of a Black-majority nation?.
Should South Africa bend its transformation laws for the world’s richest man?
African hype media