Starlink to TV licences — Interview with communications minister Solly Malatsi

President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Solly Malatsi as South Africa’s new communications minister at the end of June, with his predecessor, Mondli Gungubele, appointed as his deputy.

Born in the village of Ga-Dikgale in Limpopo, Malatsi was raised by his grandfather and aunt after his mother passed away when he was in primary school.

In a 2014 interview, Malatsi said his grandfather was a special man who played an important role in his life. “Who and where I am today is because of him,” he said.

Malatsi matriculated from Phiri Kolobe High School in Mankweng, about 40km northeast of Polokwane, where his English teacher encouraged him to read a lot and to join the debating team.

This was also where his interest in politics was ignited.

“I initially wanted to be a chartered accountant, but as time passed, I realised that accounting was not for me. I was made to be in politics,” he said.

He attended the University of Limpopo, where he completed a Bachelor of Administration degree. He also studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he obtained an Honours Degree in Political Studies.

“I remember attending my first Public Administration lecture about South Africa’s Constitutional Democracy. I got so excited, and I felt connected,” he said.

During his student years, he joined the Democratic Alliance (DA) and applied to be one of the students in the DA Young Leaders programme.

“When I joined the DA Young Leaders programme, I started participating in political debates and started writing speeches,” he said. He graduated from the programme in 2007.

His involvement in the DA party grew from student activist to staff member, and he ultimately became a public representative.

Malatsi was the former spokesperson for the MEC of Transport and Public Works in the Western Cape Provincial Government from June 2009 to May 2011.

Between June 2011 and March 2014, he served as the spokesperson for the Mayor of Cape Town.

Malatsi left this position after he became a Member of Parliament in 2014. He was one of the youngest MPs at the time.

He served in several portfolios as the party’s shadow minister for sports and recreation, human settlements, and communications.

Between 2018 and 2020, he served as the party’s national spokesperson. He was reappointed to this role for this second stint in June 2022.

Malatsi was elected as one of three deputy federal chairpersons of the DA at the party’s Federal Congress in 2023.

Malatsi takes over the communications ministry at a turbulent time.

South Africa is at the last hurdle of its abortive migration to digital terrestrial television, which is switching off the old analogue transmitters.

However, E-tv and Openview operator eMedia is fighting tooth and nail to keep the transmitters switched on.

These analogue transmissions occupy precious radio frequency spectrum that could be reassigned to mobile network operators for expanding the capacity of their 4G and 5G networks.

Crucially, industry regulator Icasa could auction off this spectrum for a pretty penny, potentially generating billions for South Africa’s fiscus.

Complicating matters is that the SABC, South Africa’s public broadcaster, is in eMedia’s corner.

Another controversial issue in the broadcasting sector is eMedia’s ongoing dispute with DStv operator MultiChoice over the latter’s exclusive rights to broadcast matches involving South Africa’s national teams.

However, neither eMedia nor the SABC has the money to pay the various sporting bodies what MultiChoice can, so the leagues and sporting associations are on the side of the pay-TV operator.

Part of the reason the SABC doesn’t have the money is that South Africans are refusing to pay their TV licences — another issue on Malatsi’s plate.

Outside of broadcasting, Malatsi predecessors have attempted to set South Africa on a path to switch off legacy 2G and 3G networks, also freeing up precious spectrum for newer technologies.

Network operators have expressed reservations at the proposed deadlines, advocating for an industry-led grandfathering of legacy cellular technologies.

The lack of availability of national network licences, some of which require the minister to issue a directive before they may be issued, is also a concern.

Icasa’s attempt to impose strict BEE requirements on big and small Internet service providers and network operators is also a hot-button topic — primarily because they may have caused Starlink to deprioritise its South African launch.

MyBroadband recently spoke to the minister about all these issues, as well as the problems facing the South African Post Office, in a wide-ranging interview. The full video of the interview is available below.