JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s minister of communications on Tuesday denied accusations that a draft policy watering down Black ownership requirements for tech firms was not proposed to benefit the Starlink business of white South African- born tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Under South African law, foreign-owned companies are required to sell 30% of their subsidiaries to shareholders who are Black, or from other racial groups disadvantaged under the apartheid system of white minority rule.

However, Communications Minister Solly Malatsi on Friday proposed easing the requirement days after President Donald Trump made baseless claims that white South African farmers were being systematically killed. — Associated Press