Several parties have weighed in on Minister Solly Malatsi’s procurement regulation gazetted on Friday, with the MK Party demanding action.
Demands are being made of Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi to retract his gazette on the procurement of digital infrastructure.
Dubbed the “Starlink gazette”, Malatsi has been accused of using the regulation to pave the way for Elon Musk to provide his satellite internet product to South Africa without meeting transformation requirements.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party’s Colleen Makhubele submitted a letter through parliamentary channels on Friday expressing their desire to have the regulation scrapped.
Section 23 of the State Information and Technology Act allows the minister to set the regulations for its implementation.
Regulation 17.8, gazetted on Friday, deals with the “efficiency of procurement” and allows the department and associated agencies to consider costs and timelines ahead of other requirements.
MK Party demands
However, Makhubele’s letter stated that the new regulation undermined South Africa’s transformation objectives.
The former Congress of the People member and South African Rainbow Alliance founder said the regulations were in contravention of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa Act.
“Section(9)(2)(b) of the ECA mandates that individual licences must have a minimum of 30% equity ownership held by historically disadvantaged groups,” stated the Makhubele.
“Regulation 17.8 contradicts Icasa’s mandate by creating a discretionary dual procurement system that bypasses transformation obligations.”
Makhubele stressed the party’s belief that the regulation was procedurally flawed, the result of “opaque and exclusionary” processes, and a threat to the country’s digital sovereignty.
Makhubele’s letter demands the immediate suspension of the new regulation, full disclosure of the stakeholders consulted and a parliamentary review of the constitutionality of regulation 17.8.
“Should you fail to act on these demands, the MK Party reserves its right to interdict this unlawful regulation through legal channels,” Makhubele concluded.
Bosa counterpoint
Build One South Africa’s (Bosa) Nobunti Hlazo-Webster agreed that the regulation would amount to “relaxed” black economic empowerment licensing laws.
However, she argued that local businesses should not be held to a different standard than those applied to international investors.
“The message being sent is that if you are a powerful foreign billionaire, you can sidestep South Africa’s laws, while our local businesses are forced to jump through hoops,” Hlazo-Wesbster stated on Saturday.
Bosa said they advocated for competition, innovation and expanded access through the removal of barriers to doing business.
“We must reform the way we do redress, with a system that truly empowers black South Africans,” Hlazo-Webster concluded.
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