Elon Musk has alleged that his satellite internet company Starlink was offered the opportunity to bribe its way to a telecommunications licence in South Africa, a claim swiftly denied by government officials.

The SpaceX chief executive claimed in a post on X on Sunday that Starlink had been offered “many times the opportunity to bribe our way to a licence by pretending that a black guy runs Starlink SA”, but said he had refused on principle.

“South Africa won’t allow Starlink to be licensed, even though I was born there, simply because I am not black,” wrote Musk, who pinned the post to the top of his profile.

Clayson Monyela, deputy director-general for public diplomacy at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, directly denied the allegation. “There’s certainly no request from the South African government for any bribe,” Monyela told The Citizen. Musk has offered no evidence for the claim.

Monyela shared a video clip on X showing a child watching ice cream enviously, captioning it: “@elonmusk watching the more than 600 USA companies investing more in 🇿🇦, complying with #SouthAfrican laws & thriving. Zero drama!!” Musk responded with an expletive-laden reply.

Commentator Michael de Villiers called Musk a “blatant liar” over his claims. “There are over 500 American companies operating in South Africa, many of them led by white executives,” he said. “This isn’t about facts — it’s about smearing South Africa for your own benefit.”

The dispute centres on South Africa’s broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) policy, which requires telecommunications licensees to allocate at least 30% equity to historically disadvantaged groups.

Starlink has argued that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s regulations do not align with B-BBEE requirements as applied elsewhere in the economy. The company has pointed out that other sectors, including technology and mining, allow foreign companies to operate without meeting the 30% equity threshold through equity equivalent investment programmes. These require a company to invest 25% of its local operations’ value annually into projects advancing transformation objectives.

“Starlink supports South Africa’s transformation objectives and proposes to meet them through equity EEIPs, a lawful and well-established B-BBEE mechanism,” the company has said. “However, the ICASA licensing regulations are anomalous and don’t recognise EEIPs.”

Starlink has offered to provide free hardware and subscriptions valued at R500 million to support internet access at 5 000 rural schools in South Africa, and has committed to partnering with local telecoms companies on rollout and installation.

Communications minister Solly Malatsi directed ICASA in December 2025 to incorporate EEIPs into its licensing regulations to align them with B-BBEE and the ICT Sector Code. That instruction followed a public consultation in which roughly 19 000 submissions were received. Around 15 000 were deemed substantive, and 90% of those supported the EEIP mechanism. As of April 2026, ICASA has not completed the required regulatory updates.

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Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya delivered a pointed response, indicating that Pretoria is unwilling to reshape its regulatory framework to accommodate the venture. “There are currently 193 member states in the United Nations. Surely, there’s good money to be made out of 192 markets. It’s okay to move on,” Magwenya said.

The regulatory difficulties are not limited to South Africa. Namibia’s Communications Regulatory Authority rejected Starlink’s licence application in March, citing the company’s failure to meet a 51% local ownership threshold.

Despite the deadlock, demand for Starlink remains strong in South Africa. Some consumers have resorted to importing kits independently and subscribing via global roaming plans, often at significantly higher cost.

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