The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) will bring the fact that Amazon Web Services (AWS) requires companies wishing to participate in its South African Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) to be 100% black-owned to the attention of the American (US) authorities.
AWS itself has confirmed that the minimum requirement for participating in the Programme is complete black ownership. Consequently, South African businesses may be barred simply because one shareholder does not qualify based on the prescribed racial classification.
The Freedom Front Plus will, therefore, formally approach and request the US Ambassador to South Africa, L. Brent Bozell III, to refer the matter to the relevant US authorities.
The issue is not necessarily whether AWS is contravening American legislation, but whether a multinational company and federal contractor’s application of an absolute racial requirement outside the USA is congruent with the US government’s current policy on race-based discrimination in contracting and programme participation.
President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14398 of 26 March 2026 stipulates, among other things, that federal contractors are prohibited from engaging in racially discriminatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) activities.
It includes disparate treatment based on race or ethnicity in contracting and programme participation.
This policy framework offers a relevant context for examining the matter.
Meanwhile, the Freedom Front Plus insists that AWS and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition provide clarity on where the 100% black-ownership criterion comes from; is it an explicit requirement of South African B-BBEE regulations, a government condition, or a corporate decision by AWS.
This distinction is important, because genuine transformation and empowerment should not permanently classify people according to race, and then grant or withhold access to opportunities on that basis.
The Freedom Front Plus believes in a free market, equal treatment, entrepreneurship, merit and opportunities for all.
South Africa needs more investment, entrepreneurs and job creation – not new racial barriers that restrict economic participation.
The Freedom Front Plus’s message is clear: A person’s race should never serve as a ticket to economic opportunities.
