The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has taken issue with the recent announcement by communications minister Solly Malatsi to ease BEE regulations in the ICT sector.
Speaking to TimesLIVE Premium on Tuesday, ANCYL secretary-general Mntuwoxolo Ngudle said the ANC cannot compromise on transformative laws.
He warned that should the ANC fail to oppose the matter, it would be “seen to be abandoning the very reason the ANC was voted for by 6.5-million people”.
“We are supporting the ANC policy, the ANC agenda to transform and liberate our people from the shackles of poverty, of colonialism and neocolonialism. Now it means we are abandoning that. We have introduced a very mild economic policy, it's not even radical [this] BEE.”
Ngudle was reacting to Malatsi’s decision which followed a working visit to the US by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation.
While Malatsi has denied that the decision was meant to ease transformative laws to allow US President Donald Trump ally Elon Musk space in South Africa, the league said it was unapologetically against “racist” Musk’s company Starlink, which it said continues to undermine transformation, exploit African markets and spread anti-black narratives globally.
The ANCYL leader said they would raise the matter in the next national executive committee meeting of the ANC.
Musk has refused to comply with licensing conditions that require a foreign company seeking to enter the South African ICT sector to give away a 30% shareholding to black economic empowerment partners.
Malatsi issued a policy directive to Icasa, which could pave the way for the BEE laws to be relaxed in favour of equity equivalents that will allow foreign investors to enter the ICT sector by scoring BEE points for undertaking activities such as investing in infrastructure in rural areas, TimesLIVE reported.
The league said the proposal represents a clear step backwards in the nation's ongoing struggle to dismantle apartheid-era economic structures. It said the proposal undermines the constitutional imperative for redress and inclusive economic transformation.
“The very purpose of BBBEE is to ensure that the historically excluded black majority are not relegated to being ordinary consumers of foreign technology, but are instead positioned as key producers, owners and innovators in the economy.
“To weaken empowerment regulations in the lucrative ICT sector is to entrench digital colonialism. It invites monopolistic foreign entities to operate in our market without the obligation to empower local black-owned enterprises or invest in skills development, SMME partnerships and rural connectivity infrastructure led by South Africans.
“The Youth League is not afraid to call out imperialism wrapped in innovation. No white-owned foreign tech giant will be allowed to bypass South Africa’s transformative laws with the help of local sellouts and anti-black lobby groups like AfriForum.”
Ngudle said the league was preparing a discussion document which it would take to stakeholders to lobby against the minister's decision.
He said the ANC had not pronounced itself on the matter despite occupying the leading role in government, arguing that there was a distinct separation between the party and its deployees who occupy positions in government.
“The ANC cannot be blamed, because I know there's no ANC that can take a position that we must relax the laws to break the country's laws. These economic policy laws and these transformative laws are what the ANC has elected under its majority rule.
“We have been very clear that under the GNU if there would be compromise or reversal of what you call our democratic gains, particularly in policies that are seeking to transform the South African economy or the ownership of the land, and we see that they are being withdrawn or revised, we're going to take it to the streets. I think they are agitating for a revolution when they attempt to do these things,” he said.
The league said it demands a reversal of the “regressive” policy proposal, instead calling for the strengthening of BBBEE obligations for all ICT licensees, including satellite providers.
The league called for a temporary prohibition on licensing foreign satellite services until a transformation charter for the ICT sector is finalised with youth, township and rural enterprises representation at its core.
It also called for a deliberate policy shift to support domestic satellite, broadband and tech industries, with aggressive investment in youth-led innovation and public ICT infrastructure.
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