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Musk's SpaceX seeks exception to South Africa's black ownership rules
The Mercury
|August 20, 2025
ELON Musk's SpaceX urged South Africa to consider an alternative to Black ownership rules for telecom companies that want to operate in Africa's largest economy.
SpaceX asked the authorities to allow it to operate using an equity-equivalent program as an alternative to the existing requirement that Black people have 30% ownership of businesses operating in the ICT sector, the company said in a letter to the government seen by Bloomberg. It wants such programs to be a standard for the industry, according to the submission.
"Equity equivalent investment programs will provide much-needed regulatory certainty and foster investment in infrastructure," SpaceX said. "Uniform empowerment regulation will motivate both current and prospective operators to expand their business activities and network reach."
This story is from the August 20, 2025 edition of The Mercury.
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