President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation, insisting it is aimed at correcting historical injustices, not promoting racism, as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk escalates his criticism of the policy.
Musk has been vocal in his rejection of South Africa’s BEE laws, claiming he is being barred from operating Starlink in the country because he is not black.
Speaking during a recent engagement, Ramaphosa said he pays “very little attention” to Musk’s remarks on X, maintaining that South Africa’s laws are grounded in fairness and the Constitution.
“Our laws are not racist,” Ramaphosa said. “They are empowerment laws that are meant to uplift people who were discriminated against in the past.”
He stressed that apartheid-era policies explicitly excluded black South Africans, particularly Africans, coloureds and Indians, while also disadvantaging women across racial groups. According to the President, current legislation is designed to reverse those inequalities.
“To address the imbalances of the past, the Constitution empowers us to pass laws that are empowering, not racist,” he said.
Ramaphosa also criticised what he described as a selective narrative, arguing that critics often overlook the explicitly race-based laws of apartheid, which dictated where people could live, work and participate in the economy.
He added that foreign companies operating in South Africa are still able to comply with BEE through alternative “equity equivalent” programmes, including investments in enterprise development, education and community initiatives.
Ramaphosa said hundreds of multinational firms, including major US companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft and General Electric, already comply with South African regulations when doing business locally.
However, Musk has sharply rejected Ramaphosa’s defence in a post on X, describing the laws in stark terms.
“The South African laws are literally super racist, plain and simple,” Musk wrote.
“It’s not complicated: imagine if the law were called ‘White Empowerment’, instead of ‘Black Empowerment’! People would have a seizure”
He went further, claiming: “South Africa now has more anti-White laws than Apartheid had anti-Black laws… The current South African government has objectively implemented Apartheid 2.0. Shame on them.”
The South African laws are literally super racist, plain and simple.
It’s not complicated: imagine if the law was called “White Empowerment”, instead of “Black Empowerment”! People would have a seizure 😂
South Africa now has more anti-White laws than Apartheid had anti-Black… https://t.co/ajsumaI4VI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2026
Ramaphosa, meanwhile, reiterated that BEE is intended to benefit all South Africans who were disadvantaged by past policies, including women across racial groups.
“We want to empower all those who were held back by the laws of the past,” he said.
