Latest news with #BBEE
IOL News
5 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
The State's commitment to BEE is in doubt
Sandile Mdadane is the Editor of the Sunday Tribune Image: File The proposed policy direction by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technology to relax the broad-based black economic empowerment (BBEE) terms to enable billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink to enter the South African market without fully complying with the law is not only a travesty of justice but also sets a bad precedent. The move undermines the transformation agenda of BBBEE, which aims to address the historical inequities. The government gazette proposal follows hot on the heels of an Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa, where the latter continued to push his baseless white genocide claim. Musk, who was born in South Africa, has repeated the false claim that his Starlink has been blocked from operating locally because he is white, omitting the fact that it has to be BEE compliant. It is particularly sad that on Africa Day, celebrated on May 25, the South African government's commitment to redress policies is in doubt as it bends over backwards to feed the impulses of the richest man in the world. A businessman who's made it his mission to spread lies about a country of his birth. Despite all the evidence that has been presented, Musk has continued with the lie that white South Africans are being targeted for mass murder and their land and property are being taken away from them. Yet the South African government has chosen to bend the rules for Starlink. In the Oval Office meeting, the richest man in South Africa, Johann Rupert, who was part of Ramaphosa's delegation, openly bid for Starlink. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Recently, Musk's chatbot Grok malfunctioned and exposed how it's being manipulated to spread false narratives. This shows how dangerous Musk is to South Africa's national security and social cohesion if his Starlink is allowed to operate locally without any scrutiny and full compliance. The speed with which the government showed in wanting to relax the rules for Starlink is at sharp odds with how it treats many small black businesses, some who've gone belly up because their invoices remain unpaid. Sandile Mdadane is the Editor of the Sunday Tribune. The views expressed are his own. SUNDAY TRIBUNE
IOL News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
'He is supremely talented at finding the right lever to pull': Trevor Noah on Elon Musk's disinformation regarding South Africa
Award-winning comedian Trevor Noah has opened up about the claims that Elon Musk has been making about South Africa. In his podcast, What Now? Noah raised questions about the tech billionaire, his business tactics, and even questioned whether he is a con artist. Noah pointed to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBEE) as being at the core of Musk's discontent with the country. "If you look at Elon's plight with South Africa, I saw it start when he was not able to launch Starlink in the country because of government laws," he said. Musk has repeatedly said that the satellite internet service is not available in the country due to his race and the supposed 142 anti-white race laws. "Starlink is not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I'm not black," said the X owner.
