- Former Public Protector Professor Thuli Madonsela has hit back at tech billionaire Elon Musk after he insulted South Africa in a series of tweets.
- Musk re-shared a tweet from a social media user who said South Africa had replaced one racist system with another
- Madonsela accused Musk of spreading disinformation about
Tebogo Mokwena, News in Brief' The Deputy Head of Current Affairs contributed coverage of international and local social issues in South Africa, including health, corruption, education, unemployment, law, labour, service delivery protests and immigration during his seven years at the Daily Sun and Vutivii Business News.
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Gauteng-East public defender Professor Thuli Madonsela has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of spreading disinformation after he posted a series of tweets in which he repeated allegations that South Africa is a racist country with racist laws.
Madonsela hits back at Musk @thulimadonsela3 x account On 12 April 2026. Musk reposted a social media user's tweet on his @elonmusk The user alleged that South Africa replaced one racist system with another, and this caused the economy to stagnate. The user, @amuse, said race is at the center of economic regulations in South Africa. He further alleged that racism was evident in the South African government's refusal to grant an operating license to Musk's Starlink due to non-compliance with the broad-based. black economic empowerment legislative framework.
Madonsela called Musk out
Madonsela was not happy with Musk's situation. In a strongly worded response, Madonsela said it was inappropriate for Musk to use his platform to spread disinformation. He said GROC understands and recommends restorative measures to address structural harms resulting from past legal discrimination. He defended BBBEE and said that BBBEE laws applied equally to black companies, including Royal Bafokeng.
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What did Musk say?
Musk reiterated this in a tweet posted the same day South Africa Starlink will not be allowed to get a license because he is not black. In a tweet, he alleged that Starlink was given the opportunity to bribe the license by pretending that a black man ran Starlink SA. Musk also shared other tweets alleging that the South African government is racist throughout the day.
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Elon Musk's past “racist” allegations
Musk has strongly criticized South Africa's BBBEE laws in the past. On March 7, 2026, Musk said that Starlink was not allowed to operate In South Africa because of his race. He shared an interview with businessman Robert Hersov, who claimed that there were 140 race-based laws in South Africa.
He repeated his statement On April 3, when he shared a post from the ex-account Visegrad24. The account said Ramaphosa will not abandon his BEE policies, which he refers to as a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy. Musk responded by saying that there are extremely racist laws in South Africa.
Are there racist laws in SA?
The widespread claim that South Africa has racist laws has caused debate because it was made by the Institute of Race Relations. News24's fact check desk The report said that many of the laws described as racist do not confer rights, obligations or benefits on the basis of race. These include the Employment Equality Act, the National Qualifications Framework Act and Accommodation Act, among others.
Elon Musk challenges BEE laws
In a related article, news in brief reported this Musk questions BBBEE laws In an interview he said that the laws of the country are racist. Musk is critical of the BBBEE laws as he sees them as an obstacle to the establishment of Starlink in South Africa.
Musk compared the country's laws to the laws of the apartheid era. He pressured the interviewer and alleged that the interviewer liked racist laws.
Source: News in Brief