Cosatu suggests BEE work around for Musk’s Starlink

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) believes a way can be found for Elon Musk’s Starlink to establish in South Africa without giving away a 30% stake as stipulated in the black economic empowerment (BEE) laws, in an effort to foster crucial relations with the United States (US).

IOL reported on Tuesday that as diplomatic tensions simmer between the US and South Africa, the Pretoria authorities are extending an olive branch to Washington, including exploring a workaround to the BEE law.

According to Bloomberg sources the South African government was preparing to offer Musk a tailored solution that circumvents existing BEE requirements – rules which Musk has repeatedly slammed as “racist and improper”.

The controversial South Africa-born, US-based chief executive of Tesla and Starlink was in the room on Wednesday night when president Cyril Ramaphosa met US president Donald Trump in a high-level showdown, which was meant to reset South Africa-US relations.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Cosatu national spokesperson Zanele Sabela said as a way forward from the president’s meeting, concrete steps must now be taken to elevate the bilateral ties, and Starlink could be one of the building blocks.

“What should happen next is, we need to see more happening. Starlink was mentioned, Musk was in the room and in the past he said he was not given a licence because he is not black. The issue is that he did not want to give 30% of his company to a black consortium,” said Sabela.

“In terms of that, it won’t be the first time. In the BEE legislation, when you are unable to give shareholding, then there are things that you can do, in terms that you can actually contribute into the country. You can train people, you can build some coding training centre somewhere, you can give jobs. There are things we can start to talk about … so that we can get this monkey off our back in terms of the fires that Elon has been stoking.”

In March, IOL reported that Musk’s Starlink had not applied for a licence to operate in South Africa, despite claiming that broad-based BEE laws are preventing his company from setting up.

At the time, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa had indicated that Starlink had not yet applied for a licence.

In South Africa, Starlink is listed as “service date is unknown” while it is starting operations in 2025 in Lesotho, Namibia, Tanzania, Congo (Brazzaville) and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its services are available in eSwatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Burundi, among other African countries.

– IOL

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