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A dispute over Starlink escalated over the weekend when numerous government spokespeople and their allies took to social media to mock the South African-born entrepreneur for his criticism of the government’s race-based investment criteria.

Clayson Monyela, South Africa’s head of public diplomacy, tagged Elon Musk (who owns Starlink) on X, mocking his concerns about Starlink’s failure to enter the local market.

Monyela wrote that “more than 600 USA companies” are investing in South Africa and are “complying with #SouthAfrican laws & thriving. Zero drama!!”

In response, South African-born Musk wrote, “Stop being such a fucking racist, you asshole.”

In another post, Musk said, “South Africa won’t allow Starlink to be licensed, even though I was BORN THERE, simply because I am not Black!”

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya joined in the mockery, writing on X that, “There are currently 193 member states in the United Nations. Surely, there’s good money to be made out of 192 markets. It’s okay to move on!”

Musk later wrote that, “Racist laws in South Africa are evil and the politicians that push these are shameful, disgusting people,” and said those backing the laws “should be sanctioned, barred from travel, declared criminals, and have their international assets seized”.

Magwenya went on to comment that “it will be fair to conclude that in the absence of respect for South Africa’s transformation laws, your peddling of lies and disinformation about South Africa, the relationship you are forcefully seeking is not going to happen. #MoveOn”.

Musk, whilst often ridiculed in elite South African society and the legacy media, is correct that South Africa requires investors, foreign and domestic, to meet racial ownership and management criteria in order to be allowed to invest in the country. These criteria serve as a de facto tax on capital and thereby reduce the country's economic competitiveness relative to its emerging market peers.

The consequences can be read in the most elementary investment data.

South Africa’s fixed investment rate remains roughly half that of comparable emerging markets, whilst the economy grew by just 1.1% in 2025 (its emerging market peers grew roughly four times as fast), and unemployment remains above 30% (the global average is nearer 5%).

Nor are the policies popular with South Africa’s public, who increasingly associate them with corruption and elite rent-seeking. Polls conducted by The Common Sense in conjunction with the Social Research Foundation show that most South Africans support a non-racial basis of policy at odds with the ideological and rent-seeking behavior of its government.

Recent research suggests that in the region of R1 trillion has been distributed to less than 100 people, often with close political ties, via these race-based investment deals in South Africa since democracy in 1994.

In 2024, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party, to which both Magwenya and Monyela are allied, saw its support slip 17 percentage points to just 40%, in large part a consequence of the low rate of employment and growth.

The racial investment policies are also a key stumbling block to securing a trade and investment pact with the US. The Common Sense has previously argued that South Africa could secure a major trade agreement with Washington if it “drops ideological posturing, sends the right envoy, and negotiates firmly around mutual economic interests”.

South Africa is one of very few countries that are yet to conclude a trade agreement with the United States.

On the specific question of Starlink, South Africa remains somewhat of an outlier in the Southern African region, given that Lesotho, eSwatini, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia all enjoy Starlink access. There is broad consensus that allowing Starlink into South Africa would be a boon for the country’s economy, especially in rural and outlying regions that do not have access to high-speed data and internet, and that by keeping it out, South Africa’s government further undermines the competitiveness of the economy and the living standards of the country’s people.