EXCLUSIVE: THE GOVERNMENT is quietly engineering a MASSIVE corporate giveaway, funnelling BILLIONS in pensioner savings into the coffers of Big Tech while YOUR lights stay off. Communications Minister Solly Malatsi has SHOCKINGLY backed a plan to extend lucrative Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) tax breaks to digital infrastructure giants—a move critics are calling a DANGEROUS BETRAYAL of the public good.
This is NOT about “stimulating investment.” This is about creating a TAX LOOPHOLE so vast it will make your head spin, allowing mega-corporations to dodge taxes while South Africa’s real economy CRUMBLES. “Unlock long-term capital,” Malatsi chirped. What he means is UNLOCK YOUR RETIREMENT FUNDS to subsidize foreign hyperscalers and billionaire-owned data centre monopolies.
The scheme hinges on twisting Section 25BB of the Income Tax Act—a law designed for shopping malls—to now cover fibre and server racks. This LEGAL CONTORTION will let tech titans like Teraco shift the tax burden onto ordinary investors, while they HOARD profits. Remember the U.S. model they’re copying? It led to tower companies holding mobile operators HOSTAGE with exorbitant rents. Now, they want to bring that RIP-OFF model HERE.
And here’s the KICKER: This push comes as Eskom teeters on the brink and millions suffer through rolling blackouts. The minister’s own ally, finance minister Enoch Godongwana, promises “frictionless” renewable energy wheeling for these power-hungry data centres. So, while YOU face load-shedding, these corporate behemoths will get PRIORITIZED POWER, greased by the very tax breaks your government just handed them.
They call it “innovation.” We call it HIGH-TECH THEFT—a brazen transfer of wealth from the pockets of South African pensioners to the balance sheets of global corporations, all while our national infrastructure is sacrificed on the altar of “digital progress.”
This is the future they’re building: a dystopia where your data is stored in a tax-free fortress, powered by energy you can’t afford, funded by the savings you desperately need. The question isn’t whether they’ll do it—it’s whether you’ll sit back and watch as they sell off the nation’s future, one loophole at a time.
Author: Kayitsi.com
