A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Even Elon Musk’s Starlink can’t connect this broken telephone

Some spark chaos with bombs and gunfire, others with a tap of a screen, swish of a pen, and gossipy whispers.

And so it was this week, in the second month of the year 2025, that US President Donald Trump decided to tell the world that he was closing the tap on funding to South Africa over our alleged dodgy land policies.

His declaration came days after key HIV/AIDS funding from the US was stopped because of Trump’s “America First” agenda.

Healthcare in ICU

The funding was paused pending a 90-day review, and a limited waiver was later granted, but it took less than 90 hours to devastate Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and Non-Governmental organisations (NGOs).

Several people in the health and education sectors affected by Trump’s decision told me this week how confused they were and how much heartbreak it had caused them.

While for some, it means they can no longer provide resources or services to those who need them the most; others said they were told not to come to work tomorrow because of the uncertainty. A few were only guaranteed one more paycheck and nothing more.

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While the SA government pays most of the bills, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed on Wednesday that the investment at stake could amount to as much as R7.547 billion.

That is a tremendous shortfall that an already ailing health system cannot afford to absorb. While health is among the government’s top expenses, totalling R271.9 billion this financial year or 20% of the total social services budget, there are still long queues, negligence, poor services and inadequate care.

This is only set to worsen with Trump’s tendency to base his policy decisions on doom-scrolling and ill-informed opinions shared at the proverbial braai.

His shoot-first and check-later approach may indicate an old man losing his mind — worse than his predecessor — or a deep obsession with populism that prevents him from seeing further than a few inches ahead.

Other suggestions claim the funding halt may be part of a campaign to pressure SA to allow Musk’s Starlink internet service in the country.

Either way, it leaves a lasting impact on those who relied the most on such funding.

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Trump and the broken telephone

The recently signed Expropriation Act that has Trump believing that land is being confiscated from “certain” citizens who are being treated “very badly” has become the message of a massive game of broken telephone.

Globally, Trump’s friend Elon Musk has been parroting white genocide and land grabs in SA for years, with no credible evidence. While it is normal for you and me to ask an expat about the country they come from, you would expect the president of a country to do a little more digging before pegging foreign policy on such pillow talk.

Ramaphosa called Musk this week to explain the Act to him, but it may do little to ease the confusion when Ramaphosa’s own minister admits: “We, as government, handled the PR regarding [the] Expropriation Bill terribly.”

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie is right that white people should speak out and not peddle the narrative of land grabs, but then political parties should also be clearer on where they stand.

While most do, the official opposition DA flooded cellphones and social media feeds this week to make it “clear”, that they “do not support the Expropriation Act”.

ALSO READ: Presidency defends Ramaphosa’s call with Musk amid criticism of being ‘reckless’

Its own version of broken telephone with voters came when the party that has been a big critic of the Bill issued a press statement saying that while the Act needs to be amended, it is not as bad as it was being portrayed and doesn’t allow land grabs arbitrarily.

A few hours later, it had to explain its explanation, muddling itself up as it tried to tell those who may like both Trump and the DA that its earlier statement was “only to make the point that South African citizens should not be punished by the US for bad policy”.

While this latest fiasco may have cynical origins, it has exposed the fragile line that politicians walk between creating and being swallowed up in the chaos.

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