Ramaphosa’s secret letter to Elon: Errol Musk spills the beans on ANC plea ahead of 2024 vote

Speaking on the SMWX podcast with author and broadcaster Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, Errol said Ramaphosa sent him a letter asking him to persuade Elon to become more involved in South Africa and to endorse the ANC.

Errol said he believed Elon would not respond positively, but he forwarded the letter nonetheless.

“Ramaphosa wanted me to send a letter to Elon asking for Elon to become more involved in South Africa and to give the ANC a bit of a thumbs up because the election was coming up in May last year. They sent me the letter. So I looked at the letter and I thought well, he’s not going to endorse the ANC. Elon is a straight kind of a guy, you know. He’s a kind of guy you would really want in business…. He’s not a dreamer or something,” said Errol.

🚨 OUT NOW: Errol Musk on @ElonMusk’s letter from Cyril Ramaphosa, rejecting the ‘White genocide’ myth, why he still lives in SA, the ‘GNU’, US-SA relations and more. Ayeye! 🔥pic.twitter.com/mfMLsltynU

— Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh (@SizweMpofuWalsh) April 13, 2025

He added: “I realised this letter is not really the kind of letter Elon is going to respond to. I told the people from Ramaphosa that I don’t think Elon will respond to this and they said leave it then, don’t send the letter. So I did send the letter to Elon out of interest but we didn’t respond to that. So the interesting thing was that they would want to involve Elon more in South Africa, which is good.”

Errol also said that South Africa holds little prominence in American public discourse. He said that the country is a “very tiny part” of American awareness and is rarely mentioned in media or everyday conversations.

“South Africa is not a major issue in America. It would be a very tiny part of everything,” he said. “Unfortunately, not the greatest [thing] to tell South Africans, but if you go to America, you probably will never hear the term ‘South Africa’ in the next six months from anyone or anywhere or on television.”

The interview also addressed Elon criticism of South Africa’s race-based laws. Earlier this year, Musk claimed that Starlink, his satellite internet company, was not allowed to operate in South Africa because he is “not black”. The statement was made in response to comments from South African billionaire Robert Hersov. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has dismissed the claim.

Errol  further said that many capable individuals left South Africa after apartheid, expressing concern over governance and service delivery in most parts of the country. He praised the Western Cape’s infrastructure and called for broader national improvements.

He also weighed in on South Africa’s political climate, including the formation of a government of national unity (GNU), and said there is growing public awareness of corruption. Errol added that Elon’s purchase of X (formerly Twitter) was partly motivated by the volume of criticism he received online.