South Africa’s digital sovereignty is under siege: a critique and a call for action against the proposed policy direction to the independent communications authority of South Africa (ICASA) on broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE).
Introduction.
“At this hour of destiny, the future of South Africa is in your hands, and it will be what
you make of it” – Moses Kotane.
In the current epoch, a time rife with the relentless expansion of global capitalism, we witness the emergence of yet another insidious attempt to undermine hard-fought gains of the liberation struggle. The recent release of the Government Gazette titled “Proposed policy direction to the independent communications authority of South Africa on broad-based black economic empowerment” marks a turning point. This proposed policy directive, designed to accommodate Elon Musk’s Starlink and other foreign enterprises, is emblematic of an ideological reversal, it derails, defocuses, delays the National Democratic Revolution and ultimately the realization of Socialism in our lifetime. Far from being a neutral technical adjustment, it is a strategic maneuver to erode South Africa’s digital sovereignty and acts as a springboard for the systematic dismantling of our BBBEE framework, the very instrument enshrined
by our Constitution and affirmed by recent judicial rulings as essential to redressing the deep wounds inflicted by apartheid and colonialism of a special type of exploitation.
Lenin’s trenchant observation that “Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism” reverberates with profound resonance in this context. The directive is not merely a concession to foreign capital; it is a deliberate act of class betrayal that sacrifices the people’s hard-won economic emancipation for the transient lure of short-term investment. This opinion piece aims to deconstruct this policy shift, explaining how it imperils digital self-determination, endangers state security, and opens the door to further dismantling BBBEE. It also seeks to mobilize all revolutionary movements to mobilize their voices and submit their objections in writing within 30 days from 23 May 2025 to prevent this betrayal of our transformative agenda.
Historical struggle and the legacies of oppression
The struggle for black economic empowerment in South Africa is inseparable from our nation’s painful history of apartheid and colonial subjugation. For decades, laws and policies crafted to ensure white supremacy systematically deprived the majority of the capital, institutional power, and self-determination. BBBEE was introduced as a corrective measure, a deliberate, state-sanctioned effort to reorient economic
power towards those subjected to centuries of exploitation.
Marx and Engels argued that history is driven by class struggles; the emancipatory policies of BBBEE were designed to dislodge the economic stranglehold of an elite that had prospered at the expense of the marginalized. The recent court ruling, which confirmed BBBEE as constitutional and essential to dismantling entrenched inequalities, reaffirms that our transformation agenda is not only politically sound but fundamentally just. By attempting now to subvert this agenda, the DA Minister of Communications is not merely undercutting an administrative measure but is actively reversing the fruits of revolutionary struggle- it is very central to the neo-colonial agenda of the Democratic Alliance.
The persistent memory of past oppressions, the legacy of both apartheid and colonialism of a special type, demands that every political move be scrutinized through the lens of historical materialism. This policy directive seeks too unwittingly or wittingly re-open old wounds by facilitating foreign corporate control over our communications networks, a domain that is intrinsically bound to our sovereignty and
collective empowerment.
The policy as a vehicular pivot for global capital.
The new directive purports to offer a “modernized” framework for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. Yet beneath its seemingly benign language lurks an insidious compromise: the policy provides special regulatory treatment to Elon Musk’s Starlink and analogous foreign companies. As Lenin famously declared, “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.” In this case, these
ideas find expression in a policy that privileges foreign capital and undermines homegrown struggle.
By altering BBBEE’s framework, dismantling entrenched requirements for historically disadvantaged ownership, the directive seeks to effectively replaces concrete empowerment measures with nebulous promises of “equity equivalent investment programs.” This reconfiguration is not accidental. It is a calculated act that reorients the regulatory framework to Favour multinational capital over indigenous enterprise. In doing so, it accelerates the absorption of South African economic space into the
global capitalist market, thus advancing the agenda of imperialist plunder at the expense of national independence.
This shift is compatible with the imperialist logic of global market integration; whereby domestic reforms subvert revolutionary transformations. By co-opting the people’s struggle (through the GNU) into an endorsement of corporate penetration, the government is forging an allegiance with the very forces that have long exploited the South African poor and working class. This policy, therefore, represents a
betrayal, a capitulation, of the promises made to generations of oppressed poor and working-class citizens.
The erosion of digital sovereignty.
Digital sovereignty amounts to more than the ownership of telecommunication towers or the control of internet protocols, it symbolizes the very essence of national self-determination in the modern age. Control over digital infrastructures is tantamount to control over information, security, and public discourse. Allowing foreign companies like Starlink (of Elon Musk who is the Joseph Gobbles of the “White Genocide” propaganda) preferential regulatory treatment under the guise of easing BBBEE requirements is tantamount to ceding strategic control of our digital destiny.
Marx’s observation that “the mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and intellectual life process in general” rings clear in the digital realm. When decisions about digital communication systems are made not by a government firmly rooted in the national interest but by foreign capital, the country risks losing its ability to safeguard its citizenry especially the poor and the working class. Such a scenario exposes our critical infrastructures to vulnerabilities, not merely through the risk of corporate espionage but through the strategic subordination of state power to global
capital.
This policy directive, therefore, is not an isolated regulatory adjustment but a critical juncture in the erosion of digital sovereignty. Every time the state compromises its control over essential digital infrastructures, it surrenders a piece of its autonomy—an autonomy that has been the cornerstone of liberation struggles since the dawn of the revolutionary process.
As Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah once asserted, “Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. They must take it by struggle and exertion.” Our digital independence, similarly, must be actively safeguarded from external interference. To allow foreign companies to pilot our communications under preferential conditions is to invite a renewed form of economic colonialism, digital
colonialism that further subjugates our country.
Threats to state security.
The incursions of foreign capital into the very heart of our state apparatus, especially in the field of communications, cannot be dismissed as mere economic liberalization. They are grave threats to our state security. The strategic communication networks of any nation are its lifelines, essential for ensuring internal stability and national defense. With the proposed policy, the state appears increasingly willing to allow foreign corporations to dictate terms that could erode the securitization of these networks.
The proposed erosion of BBBEE is merely the first step in a cascade of measures that may ultimately lead to state capture by foreign interests. The control over digital infrastructure by companies loyal to transnational capitalist interests’ risks turning our national communications grid into a channel for foreign surveillance, corporate data mining, and even political manipulation. Lenin’s warning about the modus operandi of imperialist capitalism whereby financial domination transforms into political dominance can be directly observed in this policy’s implications.
By willingly diluting the stringent requirements of BBBEE, the government (through the DA Minister) is not only permitting the entry of foreign digital solutions but is also weakening the necessary checks on state control over information. This sets a dangerous precedent wherein every subsequent concession could further erode the integrity of national networks. Our state security, therefore, hangs in the balance,
threatened by an ever-shrinking buffer against the onslaught of global capital and its inherent contradictions.
BBBEE Under direct assault: eroding our transformation agenda.
BBBEE stands as a bulwark against centuries of racial and economic injustice. It is not just a policy, but a transformative mechanism born out of the revolutionary need to re-engineer the socio-economic fabric of South Africa. The recent court ruling (against the DA) affirming BBBEE as not only constitutional, but indispensable reiterates the moral and legal imperative of maintaining robust mechanisms for black empowerment.
The proposed policy directive, by weakening the fundamental pillars of BBBEE, serves as a deliberate prelude to its eventual dismantlement. By creating loopholes such as the alternative “equity equivalent investment programs” the Ministry of Communications is effectively laying the groundwork for a gradual abolition of concrete transformation measures. Such an approach is not accidental; it is a calculated class compromise that seeks to placate international investors while sacrificing domestic economic justice.
Echoing the revolutionary rhetoric of Che Guevara who insisted that “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall”, we see that the current policy represents an attempt to undermine the natural progression of our liberation. By opening the door to corporate exploitation, the government is not only subversively reformulating our economic policy but also betraying the trust of the
oppressed majority who fought and continue to fight for genuine transformation in defense of our democratic gains and the National Democratic Revolution. The erosion of BBBEE under this directive is the harbinger of a larger assault: the gradual phasing out of the state’s commitment to uplift the historically marginalized in Favour of pleasing transnational corporate interests.
Revolutionary call to action!
In conclusion, the hour for complacency is past. This policy directive is a direct affront to the aspirations of a people long oppressed by the chains of colonialism and apartheid. As Marxists- Leninists and revolutionary forces, we are compelled by historic duty to challenge any attempt that undermines the revolutionary legacy of the BBBEE transformation agenda.
The rhetoric of “investment” and “innovation” is simply a veneer over a deeper betrayal. Our digital sovereignty, national security, and the hard-won constitutional gains of the BBBEE policy must be vigorously defended. As Pan-Africanist thinkers have long warned, genuine independence can only be achieved through an active struggle against the forces of imperialism. Kwame Nkrumah once declared that “The independence of Africa lies in its ability to forge its own destiny”, and it is our challenge, today, to ensure that our destiny is not dictated by those with vested interests in the global capitalist order.
We call upon all revolutionary movements, activists, workers, and intellectuals to join in opposing this disastrous policy change. There is a critical 30-day period, commencing on 23 May 2025, during which written objections and criticisms of this directive must be submitted. This is not merely a bureaucratic exercise but a battle for the soul of our nation. Every letter, every petition, and every public demonstration is a step towards reclaiming the integrity of South African economic and digital autonomy.
In the immortal words of Marx, “Workers of all countries, unite!” Today, we extend this call beyond the factories and fields to every domain of society affected by this proposed neocolonial policy alteration. The struggle for digital sovereignty and economic equality is a global task, yet it begins at home. Let our voices ring loud and clear against the tide of neo-imperialism. Mobilize in your communities and ensure
that the legacy of BBBEE is preserved for future generations until socialism is realized.
By Themba Makamu