South Africa halts Starlink progress
February 19, 2025
By Chris Forrester
South Africa has suspended talks over licensing SpaceX’s Starlink service in the country because of tensions with the Donald Trump administration in the US.
A Bloomberg report says that “negotiators plan to wait until the dispute between the US and South Africa calm down, with the intention to return to a possible deal at a later stage”.
The problems are centred on Elon Musk, who has described the country as having “openly racist ownership laws”.
Musk’’s comments were followed by Trump, commenting on alleged confiscation of white-owned land in South Africa, adding: “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed.”
In response, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa posted on X that his government “has not confiscated any land” and that the recently adopted Expropriation Act “is not a confiscation instrument” but rather a “constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution”.
President Ramaphosa’s spokesman, Vincent Ngwenya, reportedly told Bloomberg that South Africa would not pursue an investment by Starlink at all costs.
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