I wonder why nobody (you know what) did it yet.
Just a bit of South African context. In South Africa, in order to get a telcoms licence, you have to comply with BB-BEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment) requirements. Basically, you have to sell 30% (soon to be 51%) of your company to a local black owner. This is in addition to DEI requirements for employment.
For most businesses, these requirements are not mandatory to exist or operate, but gives you a bidding advantage for government contracts. For example, Microsoft, amazon and Temu can operate here, because they dont need any special licences. But for some sectors, companies need to aquire a license.
It can be argued that such legislation was necessary to incentivise business to diversify their employment and ownership to those previously excluded.
BUT, the way it is implemented, there is a huge emphasis on black ownership for various sectors. What will basically happen is a business needs to acquire a license from a government department. These licenses would only be granted if you give ownership of your company to the “appropriate” investor. Invariably someone connected to the government. They determine the price and basically get gifted portions of companies.
So what has basically happened is that this legislation only effective portion these days, is to enrich the politically connected.
So basically Elon is not wanting to pay the bribes necessary to get the required license to operate.
I Hate the buffoon, but on this he is correct.
I don’t think saying “because i’m not black” is the same as “i don’t want to pay the bribes that only enrich the political connected”. He seems to be only angry about the colour part, and not cronyism and nepotism. He’s twisting the truth, let’s not help justifying shit for him and make him happy.
Ohh do i mention he’s also the result of cronyism and nepotism? He have no right to criticise others.
I agree with you that he is being a racist asshole about it. He is emphasizing the race part of the legislation over the bribe part of it, because that is more politically useful to him.
It does not make the legislation less problematic. The ANC is begging the world to invest in the country, but not because that is what the country needs, but because it feeds the state mandated corruption.
Both parties are in the wrong here.
In what sense is he correct? It’s not because he’s not black, you’ve just cited the workaround—and it’s not like he’s a guy who takes a principled stand against nepotism. The idea of the state taking partial ownership of a company that is operating in their country also doesn’t give me too much pause, free trade is extractive—and I’m simply not sure that Elon Musk deserves that money more than someone in the South African government, lol
Agree, he is not taking a principled stance. He is playing the “I am being oppressed because of my race” card, despite his extensive privilege.
One correction, it’s not the state that officially takes ownership, it’s politically connected private individuals who get the ownership. The public gets zero benefit.
Thank you for the clarification.
Of all the people who deserve money, corrupt politicians and lobbyists are the only two groups who deserve it less than people like musk
This is 100% correct in high detail.
What’s amazing is that many other African countries have the same or a similar rule. And Starlink operates on those counties, meaning that he is willing to engage with the rules-as-official-bribes system. It’s that he wants to try and name the SA government look like they’re prioritizing bribes over “improving” things for the average person. He has demonstrated it’s entirely personal.
Meanwhile, Amazon and EuTelSat are going to have a non-politicized alternative to market before he ever gets his head out of his ass, and lap him in that largest market on the continent.
Only thing poor about him is his genetics
No, you don’t understand. He’s rich and white, so he shouldn’t be subject to those pesky regulations.
That’s how it works in the US, so obviously that’s how it should work in South Africa too.
Laws for thee, nor for me!
The exploited - Law for the rich
It became painfully clear since last year why he bought Twitter. He’s not trying to make a profit. He wanted a place where he and his cronies could freely and widely spread misinformation. He’ll gladly throw more and more money at it because he knows whatever money he loses running Twitter, he’s getting back through brainwashing people to do his bidding for him.
It was clear from the start. From the moment he was interested in buying the site.
it’s like this with almost everything
it’s amazing how you can break almost everything down into terms a neanderthal can understand and the short sighted conservative will break from their script
but breaking down simple concepts can be so overwhelming… and the right takes your exhaustion as an expression of failure.
it’s a never ending battle
Black, white, doesn’t matter. He should however be dead.
Yeah. At the very least banned from everything everywhere, except jail and hell.
Elon downvoted this twice.
Regulating your telecoms sector is WOKE!!!
Only net neutrality and a ban on exclusivity agreements are required. Otherwise you get the US internet hellscape of local monopolies.
which are both woke.
I’d argue you need a little more, but those things are also woke. the only thing that WOULDN’T be woke would be requiring all the internal wiring be done by children, who yearn for the
minesserver racksYou never learned about the robber Barons of the 1880’s in school did you?
in school? no; that would be communism. my teachers would have been crucified.
Crucifictions a doddle
Isn’t this stupid fuck FROM South Africa? The levels of shit here I swear to god.
He’s also an illegal immigrant who stayed on an expired visa.
and he’s super high profile, has committed tons of crimes. why hasn’t ICE deported his ass?
I mean, I know why, but it would be a fun thing to ask on, like, CNN or something.
He lies constantly to stir up shit with his base and enemies, something for us plebs to “discuss/argue about” while they distract from the grift. It’s part of the game to play the victim.
Our leadership is less than dog shit.
He says dumbass shit like this, then wonders why his Nazi salute was called a Nazi salute and not whatever excuse he gave.
Same shit for Trump, talks shit, then cries when someone points out he’s a fucking racist, rapist hypocrite.
That’s their core propaganda mechanic. Some bit of offensive trivia is found and shared by Elon. He’ll tweet it. Trump will share it. It’s on the evening show on fox they evening and in newspapers by morning. Repeat this the next day.
yeah but he’s from south africa before his guys lost the war.
Of course he is. His entire wealth is rooted in arapatheid. The irony of him claiming to be a victim of racism is so dissonant from reality that I genuinely struggle to find good words to describe it.
Lie. The word to describe it is lie.
Throw his Nazi ass in jail
Does this mean they won’t take him back now?
That’s why he wants to colonize Mars. Everyone here fucking hates him (or should).
I don’t think you understand why he left. Just look up the timeline… apartheid had the writing on the wall. Racist muskrats mysteriously flee to Canada because “the blacks” might atain self governance. It’s like they don’t understand rational eugenics…
We have an Island for people like him. It’s small, windswept, covered in bird and penguin poop. Civilization and freedom is close enough to see and swim for, but it is surrounded by great white sharks.
But we stopped sending people to Robben Island, instead of sending the right types of people there.
Pretty sure we don’t want him back
Funny enough, I do believe our BEE laws in South Africa should be scrapped. According to our news he offered to pay 26% in royalties, like Google does for example in South Africa, but did not agree to give away equity. The BEE laws are basically a way for politically connected ANC members to get a slice of the pie, does not one bit help the majority of people here.
Look Elon is a shit, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. There also needs to be empowerment laws, I say to poor citizens not based on any race laws, even though the majority of extremely poor people are black, coloured indian, mixed…, but not ones that mostly filter to the politically connected like the current BEE laws favour.
I live in SA. Care to back up the royalties claim?
I admit it is not royalties, it’s called something else not sure what, word that came to my mind. But basically an equivalent of paying similar money but without giving away equity or ownership.
It is called equity equivalents, this is where you don’t give away equity but basically still pay as if you are, hence I admit royalties are maybe not the right word but for my it is similar. Unlike other international tech companies like Google or Microsoft in our country that pays equity equivalents, the telecommunications requirements are equity or slice of your business.
There doesn’t seem to be a reliable source one way or another. The South African reported he was denied a liscence because of the black ownership laws while Newsweek says there was never a public liscence application filed. It’s possible the royalities offer was given privately and rejected, this is most likely since Starlink does pay for liscenses based on service in other African countries.
He just drumming up his nazi base who have no idea of the multiple levels of irony.
