The article literally says South Africa bans Starlink due to the race of the owner. As his race does not meet South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations:

Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Musk's SpaceX, has been unable to enter the South African market due to the country's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations. These laws require that companies providing communication services be at least 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups to receive an operating license.

[–] Xuderis@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

The regulation states:

Equality 8. (1) Every person shall have the right to equality before the law and to equal protection of the law. (2) No person shall be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly, and, without derogating from the generality of this provision, on one or more of the following grounds in particular: race, gender, sex, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture or language. (3) (a) This section shall not preclude measures designed to achieve the adequate protection and advancement of persons or groups or categories of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, in order to enable their full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. (b) Every person or community dispossessed of rights in land before the commencement of this Constitution under any law which would have been inconsistent with subsection (2) had that subsection been in operation at the time of the dispossession, shall be entitled to claim restitution of such rights subject to and in accordance with sections 121, 122 and 123. (4) Prima facie proof of discrimination on any of the grounds specified in subsection (2) shall be presumed to be sufficient proof of unfair discrimination as contemplated in that subsection, until the contrary is established.

Source: https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1993-200.pdf

“Black Economic Empowerment” does not mean “no whites”. It means “blacks need to be part of the economy”. BLM does not mean “white lives do not matter”. It means “blacks shouldn’t be dying”. Feminism does not mean “women should be held above men”. It means “women should be treated equally”.

The only thing excluding Musk: he isn’t part of a marginalized group. He’s a billionaire. He isn’t marginalized.

[–] TheOctonaut@mander.xyz 33 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

So he can still own it as a white man so long as he allows 30% to be owned by someone black, Cape Malay, Indian, San, KhoiKhoi or 'coloured', or indeed many people fitting any of those.

Not because he "isn't black".

Lots of countries have rules about local ownership; eg in Thailand businesses and properties have to be 51% owned by a Thai person. Of course the difference here is that for centuries the rules were increasingly enforced to treat certain races as foreigners, to the point of quite literally trying to declare parts of itself independent ie foreign. This creates a weird scenario after the fall of apartheid that is definitely uncomfortable to read but how do you undo centuries of this with carrot instead of stick when it's people like Musk and Peter Thiel?

[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world -5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Under current conditions Starlink cannot exist in South Africa. If we change a single variable, Musk's race to black, then Starlink can exist in South Africa (it would be >30% owned by a black person).

South Africa is discriminating based on race.

[–] TheOctonaut@mander.xyz 1 points 45 seconds ago

Sure. We can also change a single variable and have him sell 30% of it. And now he can be an apartheid nepo-baby and still run a telecommunications company in the nation his father helped to devastate.

What's your point?