Ramaphosa defends new regulations for global companies looking to do business in SA

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended new regulations that won’t require global companies like Starlink to hand over 30% ownership when doing business in South Africa.

He said regulations introduced by the Communications Minister, Solly Malatsi, on “equity equivalence”, as opposed to transferring shares to local owners, were permitted by law.

Ramaphosa was answering questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Wednesday, where he was quizzed about transformation and Elon Musk’s company Starlink, which has been critical of the country’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) laws.

The first citizen was questioned by the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Nicolaas Pienaar on whether he would commit to supporting investments like Starlink, which is yet to be granted a licence in the country.

“Will the President commit to supporting investments of this nature without requiring businesses to hand over 30% of their companies?”

Ramaphosa said the new regulations on equity equivalence, which is investment without share ownership, should be welcomed, as the government tries to find new ways to trigger investment without doing away with transformation.

“If you’re not able to have joint ownership, we want equity equivalence. That will help to address the injustices of the past.”

He said several companies invested in the country had welcomed this and were actively participating in transforming the economy and had committed to investing more money. 

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