Elon Musk accuses South Africa of telecom “bribery”

On Techpoint Digest, we discuss Elon Musk escalating his fight against South African telecom laws, how microdramas could change nollywood forever, Ghana ditching telecom fines for towers, and Malawi looking to India for a fintech boost.

Kamusta,

Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

Elon Musk escalates fight over SA telecom laws

Microdramas could change nollywood forever

Ghana ditches telecom fines for towers

Malawi looks to India for fintech boost

Elon Musk escalates fight over SA telecom laws

On April 12, 2026, Elon Musk jumped on X, setting the Internet on fire. The SpaceX CEO accused South Africa of blocking Starlink’s licence purely on racial grounds, claiming he was offered ways to bypass ownership rules through misrepresentation or even bribes, which he says he rejected “on principle.” He didn’t stop there, calling South African politicians “unashamedly racist” and urging a global boycott. As of now, the government hasn’t officially responded.

At the centre of all this is South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) policy, which requires foreign telecom companies to have at least 30% local Black ownership before getting licensed by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). That’s a problem for Starlink because SpaceX typically keeps full ownership of its operations globally. Instead of equity, the company proposed a workaround: a R500 million investment to connect 5,000 rural schools, potentially reaching over 2 million students.

But here’s where things get messy. Regulators have repeatedly pointed out that Starlink hasn’t actually submitted a licence application yet. So while Musk says the service is being “blocked,” the process hasn’t even formally started. That makes the whole situation less straightforward than it sounds, especially as the regulatory pathway itself is still being worked out.

Meanwhile, the demand is obvious. More than 18 million South Africans still lack high-speed Internet, and the government wants to connect 5.5 million more households by 2026. Starlink is already active in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda, making South Africa’s absence stand out even more. The irony (for fun)? Musk himself was ...