Bending BEE laws for Starlink is a costly gamble SA can ill afford

SOUTH Africa once again finds itself at a familiar crossroads.

- NYANISO QWESHA

SOLLY Malatsi, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies. If BEE can be relaxed for Starlink because connectivity is strategic, then every sector will present its own urgency. Mining will cite competitiveness. Energy will cite load shedding. Finance will cite systemic importance. Each exception becomes justification for the next. Transformation becomes conditional. Compliance becomes optional, says the writer.

(X / IOLGraphics)

Growth versus transformation. Investment versus principle. Urgency versus process.The immediate spark is Elon Musk’s Starlink, along with reports that the government may soften Black Economic Empowerment requirements to fast-track its entry.

But this debate is far bigger than satellite internet. It goes to the heart of constitutional governance and asks a simple but uncomfortable question: are our laws binding, or are they negotiable for those with enough power and influence?

In a constitutional democracy, ministers do not make or unmake laws. They execute them. Parliament legislates. The executive implements. This separation is not academic theory. It is the guardrail that prevents arbitrary governance.

If a minister uses policy discretion to rewrite BEE ownership requirements, that is not flexibility but overreach. When executive authority dilutes laws for convenience or political cost, the rule of law becomes conditional. Laws become suggestions. Enforcement becomes selective.