South African opposition accused the government of reaching a "backdoor deal" with Elon Musk after it proposed relaxing black mandate laws to meet the conditions for the US billionaire Starlink Telecoms group to enter the country.
The opposition has established a South Africa (BOSA) party and said it has written to the Speaker of Parliament this week asking for "a public decision on this issue to ensure that the South African people are not a backdoor deal".
"The message sent is that if you are a powerful foreign billionaire, you can avoid South African laws and our local businesses are forced to skip basketball," said Bosa deputy leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster.
The party spokesman Roger Solomons said the newly gazetted telecom companies were "impact moves" that allowed Starlink to enter the South African market "in conditions that were favorable to them, not the country."
Julius Malema, the leader of radical left-wing economic freedom fighters who are primarily opposing the party, said he would “oppose the Starling link in Parliament” rather than “ordered by business.”
This objection emerged after a new law proposed by Communications Minister Solly Malatsi last week, which could exempt telecom companies from demands to sell 30% of their local entity to historically disadvantaged groups to obtain an operating license.
Instead, companies can invest in "equity equivalent programs", such as signing up for local suppliers, creating a certain number of jobs or providing funding for small businesses.
The solution is widely seen as opening the door for Musk, who said he would not comply with the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations and complained that he could not “get a license in South Africa because I’m not black.”
Other international telecom operators in the country, such as Vodafone's local unit Vodacom, have sold shares of local subsidiaries to black investors to comply with existing rules.
The long-standing African National Congress has created an affirmative action law, with its policy touchstone aimed at rectifying the rules of segregation that have kept black majority out of economic opportunities for decades.
But critics say these regulations are often a picky exercise that can only benefit the new black elite while preventing investment.
The loosening of black ownership claims in telecommunications also adds to similar exemptions in mining. The South African Mining Council, the major mining agency, said exploration companies should be excluded from black ownership claims under the proposed mining bill.
The bill proposes that it will already exist in a legal requirement in the department’s charter, which already has 30% of the shares held by black South Africans.
"Exploration … (IS) is extremely risky. There is no guarantee that they will find something economically viable," said Allan Seccombe, director of communications at the Mining Council.
“Ideally, every penny they raise should be spent drilling or finding resources.”
The Democratic Alliance, the second largest party in the ruling coalition, put the ANC in compliance with its bee ownership laws and said it was unconstitutional.
DA's MP James Lorimer said Friday that among other issues, DA's MP James Lorimer said on Friday that in the draft mining bill, the proposed black ownership claim "will effectively end foreign investment cases in mining in South Africa."
“The bill is designed to double the racial transformation and bring back a bunch of bad ideas.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa repeatedly refuted the idea that the bee law should be abolished or reformed.
"I'm very worried that we continue to have the idea that bees are a hindrance to our economy," he said in parliament this week.
“Make part and exclusive ownership of the means of production in our country prevent this economy from growing.”
The ANC formed a 10-party coalition after suffering its worst election results last year, losing its majority for the first time since the country suffered a frustration with high crime, unemployment and the cost of living crisis.