Poetic Licence

The bromance is over. One of the 21st century’s strangest political-tech pairings, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, has publicly imploded in spectacular fashion. The fallout, as expected, is petty, vindictive, and dangerously consequential. It’s a diplomatic mess, a business blunder, and a cautionary tale, all unfolding like bad reality TV, full of veiled threats and open declarations of war. Elon Musk is having trouble at home and away.

But what’s of greater interest, especially for us down south, is how this spat between American billionaires ricochets across borders, right into our regulatory offices. Musk’s Starlink satellite internet kits are being seized in South Africa and declared illegal by our telecoms regulator. Both dramas reveal the same truth: Musk may orbit above us all, but he’s not beyond the reach of earthly politics.

In the U.S., the bromance that once paired a tech messiah with a right-wing demagogue has devolved into a playground brawl, except the toys in question are billion-dollar contracts and policy threats. Trump has threatened to sever all federal ties with Musk’s companies. SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, all potentially in the firing line of a vengeful second term. Musk, never one to play second fiddle, fired back in his usual passive-aggressive fashion. The gloves are off. And with them, any illusions of friendship. The bromance has turned into a public divorce, and like most divorces between the ultra-rich, it’s less about values and more about power. 

This might be entertaining tabloid fodder if it weren’t already spilling into the real world. In South Africa, where Starlink has been operating outside the law, the chickens are coming home to roost. Icasa, our Independent Communications Authority, has confirmed that it has confiscated illegal Starlink equipment being sold on the black market. No licence. No local partner. No application before Icasa. Just quiet expansion, enabled by silence from the top.

Icasa is finally putting its foot down, not because of the Trump feud. That’s just karma knocking twice: once for Starlink, and again for the “white genocide” lies. When Musk loses political protection in Washington, the ripple effects reach far-flung markets like ours. The same confidence that lets him operate Starlink without permits in South Africa is the confidence that lets him believe Trump will never actually follow through on his threats. It’s all part of the same hubris. But now, with the equipment confiscated and no official path for Starlink’s legal operation, we’re left watching billionaires bicker while the bandwidth dries up.

The breakup with Trump may dominate headlines, but in his home away from home, Musk is learning a harsher truth: satellites float above the earth, but business happens on the ground, where laws matter, and even billionaires can’t ghost the rules. For more political analysis and commentary in vernacular, join the conversation on Rabbie’s YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/RabbieWrote?sub_confirmation=1