SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has referred to as a senior South African authorities official “a fucking racist” and an “asshole” within the newest escalation of his long-running public dispute with Pretoria over the licensing of his Starlink satellite tv for pc broadband service.
The change, which performed out on X on Sunday, started when Clayson Monyela, head of public diplomacy on the division of worldwide relations & cooperation, tagged Musk in a put up declaring that greater than 600 American corporations function in South Africa in compliance with native legal guidelines.
“@elonmusk watching the greater than 600 USA corporations investing extra in [South Africa], complying with #SouthAfrican legal guidelines & thriving. Zero drama!!” Monyela posted.
Musk’s reply, posted inside hours, was vulgar and direct: “Cease being such a fucking racist, you asshole.”
The outburst marks an extra deterioration in Musk’s already strained relationship with the South African authorities, which he has repeatedly accused of racial discrimination over the nation’s black financial empowerment framework. Underneath South African licensing guidelines, potential telecommunications licensees, like Starlink, should cede 30% of their fairness to traditionally deprived teams – a situation SpaceX has stated it doesn’t do anyplace on this planet.
In March 2025, Musk claimed on X that Starlink was not allowed to function in South Africa “as a result of I’m not black”, a press release Monyela publicly rebutted on the time.
Broadside
The newest broadside comes in opposition to the backdrop of a slow-moving however politically explosive coverage course of that might present a workaround for Starlink and different multinationals within the telecoms area which are unwilling or unable to dilute fairness domestically.
In December 2025, communications minister Solly Malatsi gazetted a ultimate coverage directive instructing the regulator, Icasa, to recognise fairness equal funding programmes (EEIPs) as a substitute for the 30% native possession rule.
Learn: ICT sector BEE code beneath the microscope as Starlink circles
Underneath the EEIP framework, a multinational might retain full possession of its South African operation whereas making qualifying investments in native infrastructure, expertise improvement or enterprise help equal to both 30% of the worth of its native operation or 4% of annual native income.
Starlink has indicated it will commit near R2-billion beneath such a framework, together with R500-million to attach 5 000 rural colleges to high-speed web.
Cease being such a fucking racist, you asshole
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2026
The directive has been bitterly contested. The portfolio committee on communications & digital applied sciences, chaired by the ANC’s Khusela Diko, has accused Malatsi of overreach and referred to as for the directive to be withdrawn. The EFF and MK Occasion have argued that EEIPs would hole out transformation within the ICT sector. The presidency, nevertheless, has publicly backed Malatsi’s reforms.
Individually, the B-BBEE ICT Sector Council introduced final week {that a} full overview of the 2016 ICT sector code is beneath means, with public feedback due by 20 Might. That overview might assist decide whether or not EEIPs turn out to be a everlasting function of the ICT sector.
Delays
Trade analysts have instructed that even when the coverage course survives political and authorized problem, the regulatory course of might take 18-24 months to finish, placing a practical Starlink launch in South Africa no sooner than late 2027.
Starlink is operational in 24 African nations, together with all of South Africa’s neighbours besides Namibia, which rejected the corporate’s licence purposes in March. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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