DA communications minister Solly Malatsi is standing firm on his policy directive that seeks to relax BEE regulations in the ICT sector and could open the door for Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service Starlink in South Africa.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from the ANC. Parliament’s communications committee, led by the ANC’s Khusela Diko, summoned Malatsi to appear before it to explain what “appears to be in contravention of the Electronic Communications Act.”
A senior ANC leader who asked not to be named said: “It’s been a DA proposal for a long time, so this is a win for the DA.”
ANC Youth League secretary-general Mntuwoxolo Ngudle said the ANC cannot compromise on transformative laws and promised to raise the matter at the party's next national executive committee meeting.
Malatsi is sticking to his guns, stressing that we need serious investment in digital infrastructure. He writes in this week's Sunday Times: "Empowerment should not be confined to a tick-box approach. If a company invests R500m into broadband rollout in deep rural areas, creates 1,000 new ICT jobs or incubates 20 black-owned tech enterprises, that is transformation and it is the kind of progress we should welcome,"
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