Cape Town — Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting with South African-born billionaire, Elon Musk, the presidency has cleared the air over why that meeting took place.
Ramaphosa and Musk met to discuss ongoing issues and to clarify the comments made by Donald Trump, who says South Africa has laws in place that target poorer classes.
“In the process, the President reiterated South Africa’s constitutionally embedded values of the respect for the rule of law, justice, fairness and equality,” the Presidency said in a post on X.
Yesterday, 3 February 2025, President @CyrilRamaphosa spoke to @ElonMusk on issues of misinformation and distortions about South Africa.
In the process, the President reiterated South Africa’s constitutionally embedded values of the respect for the rule of law, justice,… pic.twitter.com/P5CX9ggTYH
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) February 4, 2025
Following the meeting with Musk, Presidency spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said why Ramaphosa and Musk met and the main reason was to give Musk information regarding the Expropriation Act.
“Why did the President speak to Elon Musk? Following Trump’s announcement, we issued a statement that was posted on X from the president’s handle, as well as the Presidency handle. There was a response to that statement by Elon and generally, we are deterred by the substance of the announcement because there were clearly some inaccuracies with respect to the reflection of the country and what was happening with the country,” Magwenya said,
“The X platform is an influential platform and is owned by Musk. Ramaphosa has held engagements, prior to this announcement, with Elon Musk with the intention to see him invest more in South Africa. His particular interest was Starlink,” Magwenya added.
“We’ve had open engagements with Musk, so in light of this recent development, it was sensible, logical and quite important that the president engages with him so that we reinforce his understanding of what is happening in South Africa. We flagged our concerns with respect to the disinformation we saw in Trump’s announcement but also in his own response to our statement,” Magwenya said.
Ramaphosa refuted the claims that South Africa does not have any racial laws and its laws are governed by the Constitution.
“These are South African strengths that we are going to repeat over and over, not only to the Trump administration but to others that may have some form of doubt over the state of this country,” he added.
He also praised South Africa’s independent judiciary and legal framework that is based on a “well-respected constitution” and said the country respects the constitution.
“It was important that they have that conversation and that understanding is emphasised, at least tp benefit Elon, but also considering his influence within the (Donald) Trump circle for the President to deliver that message,” he said.
[WATCH] Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya explains why President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to tech tycoon Elon Musk on SA’s land expropriation policy. “It was important that they have that conversation… considering his influence within the (Donald) Trump circle.”… pic.twitter.com/Q3jlfCDt6X
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) February 5, 2025
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
