South Africa continues to double down on its anti-American and anti-Afrikaner policies, preventing Elon Musk’s Starlink from operating in the country because it does not meet race quotas. “Starlink is not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I’m not black”, Musk posted.
“Despite being operational in 17 African countries, including neighboring nations like Namibia, Mozambique, and Botswana, South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, is not on the Starlink network”, Business Insider Africa wrote.
South Africa’s race-based employment laws (Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BB-BEE) require companies providing communication services to be at least 30% owned by “historically disadvantaged groups” to receive an operating license.
Far from promoting equality, however, BEE laws have only increased disparity and corruption as ANC cadres gain lucrative ownership shares in companies they otherwise contribute nothing to. South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa and his predecessor Jacob Zuma are both multi-millionaires despite having done virtually nothing in their lives outside of ANC politics.
The South African Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya accused Musk of holding “unprogressive” and “racist” beliefs and said his country has decided not to move forward with Starlink’s satellite internet service.
“If a leading business figure like Elon Musk harbours the kind of unprogressive, racist views that we’ve witnessed and the peddling of lies that we’ve been confronted with, then we’re not going to pursue having his investments,” Magwenya said.
South Africa remains the only Southern African country without a Starlink launch date.
“Just over 10% of South African households have access to the internet at home”, writes AfriForum activist Ernst van Zyl. “While about 17% of metropolitan households have home access to the internet, only 1.7% of rural households have this same luxury. While there currently exists an internet access canyon between rural and urban South Africa, satellite-based technology such as Starlink provides the logical bridge. At the moment policies fixated on skin colour are the major factor blocking this bridge. A stunning example of a bitter harvest.”
Civil rights organization AfriForum has launched a petition against the racist ban on Starlink, which it calls “too white.”
The petition urges signatories to “Say no to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA’s) race obsession, which is blocking Starlink in South Africa”:
“No satellite services for Starlink because they are “too white”?
AfriForum submitted written commentary to ICASA, requesting the authority to abandon its strict race-based criteria. These criteria hinder the granting of a South African licence to the satellite network Starlink.
The improved communications ability that Starlink will be offering in South Africa will make a major contribution to preventing crime and improving crime reaction times, especially in rural areas where cell phone reception is often unreliable or completely absent.
By prohibiting Starlink from operating in South Africa because of racist criteria, ICASA is depriving rural communities of a reliable alternative that may save lives.”
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