In South Africa, policies meant to promote fairness are slowing access to technological tools that improve safety, connectivity, and daily life.

Shortly after arriving in the country to begin his post, newly appointed US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III was met with fierce backlash after confirming Washington’s list of five demands to Pretoria—chief among them an uncompromising call to scrap Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE). The policy forces companies to hand over a portion of their ownership and board-level control to black partners as a mandatory condition of winning government contracts, licenses, and major business deals.

He is right to call them out. B-BBEE has discouraged foreign investment, slowed the rollout of basic infrastructure, and failed to help South Africans at all. Since B-BBEE was signed into law in 2004, South Africa has regressed economically. The national unemployment rate has climbed from roughly 22 percent in 2004 to more than 32 percent today. For Black South Africans, the picture is even worse, with unemployment rising from 29 percent to around 37 percent today. 

Infrastructure Gaps and Internet Connectivity Failures in Rural South Africa 

The same policies that have failed to create jobs have also starved the country of modern infrastructure, especially reliable internet. I had heard about South Africa’s connectivity problems before arriving on a fact-finding trip focused on governance and rural security issues, but brushed them off. It was only once I got there that I saw how bad it really was. I stayed in a guest house outside Bronkhorstspruit, set back along a dirt road, far enough from town that everything felt quiet and removed. The property was secured by gates, with guards on-site, and surrounded by long stretches of open, empty land. The internet barely worked, slowly fading throughout the day until it became unusable by evening. Locals told me this wasn’t unusual. Cables are frequently cut or stolen, infrastructure is inconsistent, and no one I spoke to expected the government to fix it anytime soon.

For many people I spoke to, it was simply part of daily life, but being out there without a reliable connection, I grew uneasy. Nearly every day, I met someone who matter-of-factly told me they knew someone who had been a victim of a farm attack. And it got me thinking—if the security failed for some reason and something were to happen, how would I reach anyone at all? 

Crime, Rural Security Risks, and the Lack of Data Tracking in South Africa

South Africa ranks among the most crime-affected countries in the world, alongside places such as Venezuela and Haiti, with an average of 71 murders every single day. And in rural areas, the scale of violence is difficult to pin down, not because it isn’t happening, but because there is no consistent system for tracking it. All this while millions remain offline. 

So what exactly justifies the African National Congress (ANC) blocking a technology that could help people stay connected, and in some cases, be protected?

The country has made some progress expanding internet access, but millions are still left behind. Roughly 78 percent of households have some form of connectivity, almost entirely through mobile data, yet 13 to 14 million South Africans remain offline altogether. Even among those who are connected, reliability is another story. Only about 17 percent of households have fixed broadband at home, and in rural provinces, that number drops to around two percent. 

B-BBEE Policies and Barriers to Foreign Technology Investment 

In a May 2025 meeting with President Donald Trump, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that the country’s rising crime levels demand stronger technological solutions and openly called for American support to help address them. Yet his government continues to uphold race-based policies that make it harder for that very technology to enter the market.

B-BBEE was introduced with good intentions after apartheid to correct historic imbalances. But after more than two decades, it is fair to ask whether repeating this approach is effective. Based on the most basic metric—the job market—the answer appears to be no. On the technological front, the consequences are even harder to ignore. 

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been trying to enter the South African market for years, bringing with it the kind of satellite infrastructure already improving connectivity in other parts of the continent. He has even explored using an equity-equivalent framework that would allow companies such as Starlink to commit billions toward local infrastructure and development without formally transferring ownership stakes. But that workaround still requires layers of negotiation, regulatory approval, and concessions that only the largest companies can realistically absorb, creating a system where innovation is shaped less by what works and more by what can navigate the rules.

South Africa’s neighbor to the north learned this lesson the hard way. After former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s racially driven land seizures destroyed commercial farming and collapsed the economy, President Emmerson Mnangagwa reversed course, compensating white farmers and encouraging their return to joint ventures. Agricultural output stabilized, and investment began to return. Then, in September 2024, Zimbabwe opened its doors to Starlink, and by mid-2025, the service had already delivered over 50,000 active terminals across the country, many of them deployed to rural schools and local authorities. 

The Security and Life-Saving Potential of Reliable Internet Access in South Africa

What could this kind of access mean for South Africa? I remember some of the horror stories I was told of farm attacks where victims were tied up, beaten, sometimes tortured, or worse, and left for dead. A stronger internet couldn’t stop an attack, perhaps, but it could make it possible to call for help or send an alert. It might mean someone, somewhere, can learn what’s happening before it’s too late.  

South Africa has the resources, the talent, and the infrastructure base to do far better than this. Yet, it remains trapped in a hole of its own making. Crime tears through every community, but rural areas face a special kind of vulnerability that the ANC seems unable, or unwilling, to confront head-on. The least it could do is stop blocking tools that could save even one life.

And that’s exactly why I came away even more convinced that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-style policies have no business dictating the rollout of technology. The moment access becomes conditional, negotiated, or delayed to satisfy political criteria, it stops serving the public and starts serving the system.

Restricting access to the very tools that make opportunity possible pulls focus away from what could actually improve people’s lives and toward what satisfies a framework, leaving everyone—Black and White, farmer and citizen alike—paying the price. The ANC has the ability to fix this. It simply hasn’t chosen to.

About the Author: Iulia Lupse

Iulia Lupse is the founder of I&A Communications Solutions and a contributor with Young Voices. She holds a BS in diplomacy and international relations from Seton Hall University, with a minor in Russian and Eastern European studies.

The post The ANC Is Starving South Africa of the Tech It Needs Most appeared first on The National Interest.