South Africa's communications minister Solly Malatsi has publicly lost patience with telecoms regulator Icasa over its failure to implement a December policy direction requiring alignment of licensing rules with B-BBEE equity equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs). The reform would allow multinationals like Starlink to meet transformation requirements through investment in skills, infrastructure, and enterprise development rather than ceding 30% local equity. While the mechanism is already used by Microsoft, IBM, and AWS, the reform has become politically toxic because Elon Musk's Starlink is its most visible beneficiary. Musk's inflammatory statements about South Africa and his amplification of 'white genocide' narratives have made it politically untenable for President Ramaphosa to be seen supporting the reform, despite having personally endorsed it. The result is a regulatory standoff where Icasa stalls, Malatsi issues statements, and a technically sound policy reform remains unimplemented due to coalition politics ahead of local government elections.
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