Tag Archives: Solly Malatsi

Malatsi accused of bending the rules to appease foreign billionaires

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Picture: Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi

By REGINALD KANYANE

25 May 2025- The Congress of the People (COPE) said it unequivocally condemns the alleged disgraceful decision by Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, to tamper with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) legislation, a complete betrayal of South Africa’s transformation agenda. COPE said this is not policy reform, but a legislative betrayal.

COPE’s acting national treasurer, Teboho Loate said what Malatsi is doing is that he is opening the backdoor for billionaire Elon Musk and his Starlink enterprise to enter South Africa without adhering to the legislation imperative of 30% black ownership. Loate said to be clear, this is not empowerment.

“It is cowardice. Once again, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has bowed before the altar of white capital, foreign interests and right-wing propaganda.

“The same embarrassing delegation that paraded itself at the White House, a group of golfers and disconnected elites has returned not with dignity, but with a legislative sell-out disguised as the so-called Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP), spitting in the face of South Africa’s long and painful transformation journey,” he said.

Loate further said Malatsi wants to tell South Africans that this amendment will attract multinational investment. He added that, but what he truly means is, “Let us bend our rules so foreign billionaires can bypass our people and our policies.”

“The BBBEE legislation is not optional and non-negotiable. If a multinational wants to do business here, it should be a given that foreign investors doing business in South Africa must ensure that they empower historically disadvantaged South Africans.

“That means ownership, which means real participation. This has nothing to do with innovation or connectivity. It has everything to do with giving in to the influence of Elon Musk, a known right-wing tech billionaire, who has shown open disdain for our democracy and our people,” he said.

Loate said Musk has shamelessly pushed false, racist narratives of “white genocide” and aligned himself with organisations and ideologies hostile to South Africa’s transformation. He said they should not pretend this betrayal is coincidental.

“The timing of this gazette, immediately after a suspicious, self-serving trip to the US, is not by chance. Following high-profile meetings with Donald Trump, Ramaphosa’s administration now appears to be facilitating Elon Musk’s entry into South Africa, a country he has controversially accused of targeting white people for genocide.

“We must ask ourselves questions around Starlink, given the character of its owner. Is Starlink simply a tech venture, or is it a surveillance operation disguised as a satellite dish?” he asked.

Loate said why would the country allow someone with clear political interests and ties to extremist ideologies to establish this kind of infrastructure in South Africa, without firm guarantees for the sovereignty, the data and the people? He said they should not stand by while a sitting minister spits on the principles of economic justice to appease US billionaires.

“South Africa is not for sale. Our laws are not bargaining chips. Our dignity will not be traded for satellites. We call on all South Africans to reject this betrayal.

“We must defend the principles of empowerment, equality and justice, not only in word, but in action,” said Loate.

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Strategic measures in place to resuscitate South African Post Office

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By REGINALD KANYANE

3 October 2024- The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies, Khusela Sangoni Diko said she notes and welcomes the statement issued by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, on actions being taken by the Department of the Communications and Technologies (DCDT) to save the South African Post Office (SAPO).

Malatsi has announced that he has sought the National Treasury’s support to proactively establish a task team to pursue private financial and operational partners for SAPO.

Diko said that Malatsi’s efforts are in line with the committee’s recommendation made on two separate occasions. She further said the committee called for urgent and decisive action from the DCDT to resolve the challenges at SAPO following disappointing interactions with SAPO and the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs).

“While the committee strongly believes that strategic and value-creating public-private partnerships are of critical importance to ensure a sustainable Post Office, it is, however, extremely concerning that Malatsi’s statement seems to suggest a foregone conclusion that entering into such partnerships must equate to the “privatisation” of the Post Office.

“In this regard, Malatsi has said the pursuance of private financial and operational partners will enable serious consideration of privatisation scenarios as a preferential option to further funding from the fiscus,” she said.

Diko added that SAPO is a strategic state institution with an important mandate to connect people to one another and to the government in a fast-evolving technological age.

“As such, it must remain in the hands of the state, not beholden merely to commercial interests but committed to delivering on its universal services obligations espoused in the Postal Services Act of 1998. 

“Further, the position of government cannot and should not shy away from unreservedly supporting the rescue and resuscitation efforts at the Post Office by, amongst others, preserving, protecting and extending its competitive advantage as provided for in law to reserve its exclusive licence to provide postal services for all parcels weighing under 1kg,” she said.

Diko said such measures and other revenue-generating initiatives, including leveraging its extensive property portfolio, more deliberate action to expand government-to-government procurement spent towards the Post Office, and enhanced and synergistic public sector partnerships, will go a long way to turning around the Post Office.

She said the committee reiterates its position that the Business Rescue Practitioners have failed to deliver on their mandate to rescue, stabilise and ensure the long-term commercial viability of the Post Office.

Diko said consequently, the committee shall invite Malatsi to explain his vision of the organisation and present to the committee all different scenarios with evidence and financial implications for each option.

“We support partnerships with the private sector to leverage resources, skills and market access, but that is not privatisation. It is strategic partnerships where risks are shared, not a scenario where the state carries the risks and capital monopolises the upside.

“That is an old model of public-private partnerships. We want to see clearly thought-out plans that build the capacity of state institutions whilst making SAPO commercially viable,” she said.

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