Musk’s dad says he arranged son’s call with Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to Elon Musk on Monday night after Musk accused the post-apartheid government of anti-white racism. File photo.
President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to Elon Musk on Monday night after Musk accused the post-apartheid government of anti-white racism. File photo.
Image: SA Government/X

President Cyril Ramaphosa needed to call Elon Musk on Monday night.

The billionaire had publicly accused the post-apartheid government of anti-white racism and Musk's ally, US President Donald Trump, said he would cut more than $400m (R7.5bn) in funding to the country.

Bejani Chauke, an adviser to Ramaphosa, called Musk's father Errol, a 78-year-old engineer who lives in a luxury double-storey coastal villa a two-hour drive from Cape Town, Musk senior said.

"I was asked if I can arrange a quick talk between Ramaphosa and Elon last night, so I did, and they spoke a few minutes later," Errol Musk told Reuters at his home in Langebaan, a mostly white enclave looking onto a lagoon fed by the Atlantic Ocean where he keeps a Bentley and a Rolls-Royce.

He briefly showed an exchange of WhatsApp messages between himself and Chauke that backed up his account. Chauke did not respond to questions by Reuters about his role in contacting Musk's father. Ramaphosa's office confirmed the phone conversation with Musk, who was born in SA, in a post on the tycoon's X social media platform.

Contacted by Reuters, Ramaphosa's spokesperson declined to comment on how the conversation with Musk came about or its content, saying: "Errol Musk is a private citizen. His views are his personal views."

Elon Musk did not reply to requests for comment from Reuters.

The trigger for the sudden flurry of backdoor diplomacy was a post on Sunday by Trump who said, without citing evidence, "South Africa is confiscating land" and "certain classes of people" were being treated "very badly".

He said he would cut off funding to the country in response, prompting a nearly 2% slide in the rand in early trading on Monday, and a fall in stocks and government bonds. The cost of insuring SA debt against default rose to its highest since early August.

Trump was referring to a bill signed into law by Ramaphosa last month with the aim of addressing racial disparities in land ownership that have persisted in SA since apartheid ended 30 years ago, a target of public criticism by Musk and many white farmers.

The law allows the state to expropriate land "in the public interest", in some cases without compensating the owner. SA had previously set a target for the government to transfer 30% of farmland to black people that has been repeatedly pushed back. As of 2018, only 8% had been transferred, according to a government survey of title deeds.

White landowners possess three quarters of SA's freehold farmland, compared with 4% for black landowners, according to the most recent state audit. Black people make up about 80% of SA's total population, while about 8% are white.

Ramaphosa responded to Trump's comments on Monday, saying the government had not confiscated any land and he looked forward to engaging with Trump to foster a better understanding of a policy designed to ensure equitable public access to land.

Trump's attack was echoed by backer Musk, who addressed Ramaphosa in a post on X on Monday accusing SA of having "openly racist ownership laws".

Errol Musk, who said he works in property development and for his son's US satellite company Starlink, said Trump would be right to cut funding to SA.

He said he did not know if his son had exerted influence over Trump on the issue, but did not think that was necessary as he said Washington was right to scrutinise how US funding was being used abroad.

"He (Elon) would point out things about SA, but the Americans themselves are not stupid. Everyone wants money from them, that is what it boils down to," he said.

"I would like to know why American taxpayers have to pay nearly $500m (R9.3bn) a year for treatment for South African HIV sufferers. Why?"

Washington committed $440m (R8.2bn) in assistance to SA in 2023, of which $315m (R5.9bn) was for HIV/Aids. Ramaphosa said US funding accounted for 17% of SA's programme to prevent and treat HIV/Aids, which disproportionately affects poor and black people.

"I can only imagine Elon would have said (to Ramaphosa) 'We want to help you but you have to quit this war on white people in SA'," said Musk senior.

"I'd imagine he'd be saying 'do you want Zimbabwe here?'," he said.

Violent seizures of white-owned farms instigated by late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in the 2000s prompted an exodus of thousands of white farmers. Their departure was widely seen as having been a disaster for the country's agriculture and wider economy. Reuters could not establish if Zimbabwe arose in Musk's conversation with Ramaphosa.

SA's land reform policies since the end of apartheid in 1994 have never involved the forced seizure of white-owned land.


subscribe

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.