Starlink, BEE and the danger of ad hoc rule-making

Article link: https://open.substack.com/pub/johanos...

The article argues that the real danger in South Africa’s Starlink debate isn’t the technology itself, but ad hoc rule-making that looks like it’s being shaped around one company or one personality. When policy appears personalised, trust in regulators collapses, and the damage spreads beyond Starlink to future frontier technologies. It shows how the standoff has become a proxy fight over transformation, investment, sovereignty and access, with public narratives hardening as Starlink’s rollout remains stalled, Musk alleges discrimination, and political parties weaponise the story for their own messaging.

It then makes the case that South Africa needs transparent, sector-wide rules that any operator can comply with, not “workarounds” driven by headlines or public pressure campaigns. Equity-equivalent mechanisms could be legitimate, but only if they’re measurable, auditable and enforceable, with clear obligations and penalties. The practical warning is that if we can’t govern satellite internet cleanly, the same pattern will repeat with AI, fintech, and digital identity systems that touch citizens at scale. The takeaway: treat connectivity as strategic infrastructure and rebuild regulatory credibility through clarity, speed, and legitimacy.