A trending discussion in 2025 has been whether Elon Musk’s Starlink should be allowed to operate in South Africa and under what conditions. This has been controversial because Musk has become unpopular amongst many South Africans and also because he has openly claimed that the reason why Starlink has not been allowed to operate is because of race based ownership laws. Anyone familiar with South Africa will know that any discussion that has race at the centre is likely to be emotive and polarising.
I was shocked to read a tweet from someone who claimed (I’m paraphrasing because I couldn’t find the original tweet) that South Africa doesn’t need Starlink but a functional Denel. For those of you not from South Africa, Denel is the parastatal organisation that exists for the purpose of manufacturing military equipment. Founded in 1992 its purpose was to be technology partner for Africa’s military needs. Fast forward 33 years later and Denel is bankrupt. Its last profit was in 2017 (R282 million) and received over R9 billion worth of bailouts since 2019. In most months it struggles to actually pay its staff.
This tweet really made me think about how aspirational our problem solving can sometimes be as humans. We like to provide solutions for the problems we wish we had, not the ones we do have. The problem with Denel is that it is bankrupt due to years of mismanagement and ineptitude. For someone to think this organisation can somehow emerge (with more tax payer money) as a competitor to Starlink is laughable. Denel isn’t failing because the government failed to give it a satellite communications licence. It’s like saying we don’t need email, what we need is a functional post office. Laughable.
I remember many years ago describing my elaborate diet plan to one of my colleagues at work. He listened intently then advised me that the solution to my problem was just to eat less. And he was right. I didn’t need a fancy diet plan. I just needed to eat for one, not destroy the kitchen like I was eating on behalf of a whole family. Other fallacies that we entertain are that we save money buy buying a new car when the maintenance plan expires. When in reality, we just need to manage our budget and plan for maintenance. Or the fact that South Africa needs smart cities and the creation of millions of new technology heavy jobs. When we actually just need jobs for the South Africa we have now. One with deep unemployment affecting young black people specifically. Many of whom are unskilled or poorly educated.
It really is great to think of game-changing ideas that will shift our circumstances, rather than limiting ourselves to what we see in front of us. But sometimes one just has to play the ball that is actually in front of them. It is actually pointless diagnosing solutions for problems we wish we had, rather than the problems we actually have. In the sporting world, if our work ethic is the problem and the athlete is not training enough. No amount of specialist coaching will improve their performance. For children studying for exams, if the issue is just the effort they are putting into their studies, no amount of tutoring will make up for this. If someone’s career has stalled because they lack certain skills and experience, no amount of golf with the CEO will fix this.
At some point we just have to be real and ask ourselves the real questions. What is really going on here and what is the real problem. Not what problem would we love to solve. But what is the truth about what is going on and what is the genuine solution to that problem.
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