South Africa denies bending rules to give Musk’s Starlink preferential treatment

Johannesburg: South Africa’s minister of communications on Tuesday denied accusations that a draft policy watering down Black ownership requirements for tech firms was not proposed to benefit the Starlink business of white South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk. Under South African law, foreign-owned companies are required to sell 30% of their subsidiaries to shareholders who are Black, or from other racial groups disadvantaged under the apartheid system of white minority rule, in order to acquire a license.