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

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has defended the president’s call with businessman Elon Musk amid criticism from the EFF.

On Tuesday, the Presidency shared that Ramaphosa spoke to Musk on Monday about misinformation and distortions about South Africa.

“In the process, the president reiterated South Africa’s constitutionally embedded values of respect for the rule of law, justice, fairness and equality,” shared the Presidency on X.

Trump vows to cut off funding

The call follows US President Donald Trump’s threat on Sunday to “cut off all funding” to South Africa for “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly”.

“It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much a mention. A massive Human Rights violation, at a minimum, is happening for all to see,” wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform.

ALSO READ: Trump must punish senior ANC leaders, not ordinary citizens, says AfriForum [VIDEO]

“The United States won’t stand for it. We will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed.”

Ramaphosa responded to Trump by committing to “engage” with him, further dismissing claims that South Africa had confiscated land.

“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest. We are certain that, through those engagements, we will share a better and more common understanding of these matters,” said Ramaphosa.

ALSO READ: Trump to cut off ‘all future funding’ to SA amid investigation into land expropriation

“The US remains a key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa. With the exception of PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS programme, there is no other funding that is received by South Africa from the United States.”

Ramaphosa explains Expropriation Act to Musk

According to Magwenya, Musk’s response to Ramaphosa’s statement on X necessitated the president’s decision to take the conversation off social media to avoid further misinformation.

“Following Trump’s announcement, we issued a statement that was posted on X from the president’s handle. There was a response to that statement by Musk,” said Magwenya on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Why land expropriation panic is ridiculous

“The X is an influential platform and is owned by Musk. Ramaphosa had engagements with Musk prior to this announcement with the intention to see him invest more in South Africa. His particular interest was Starlink.

“We’ve had open engagements with Musk, so in light of this development, it was sensible, logical and quite important that the president engages with him so that we reinforce his own understanding of what is happening in South Africa. We flagged our concerns concerning the disinformation we saw in Trump’s announcement and his own response to our statement.

ALSO READ: Will the Expropriation Act destroy the GNU?

“The US is our second-largest trading partner, and we have a longstanding strategic political and cultural relationship with it. We respect this relationship, which has always been mutually beneficial and will continue to be mutually beneficial. Where there are bumps, as we have recently experienced, it will always be in our interest to engage various role players within the country’s leadership and also broadly in US society.”

‘Ramaphosa embarrassing us’

President Ramaphosa’s call with Musk has been criticised by the EFF. The party on Wednesday accused him of breaking diplomatic protocols by calling an unelected government official.

“This breaking of diplomatic protocol should never be taken lightly by the citizens, as it is a clear indication of how the sovereignty of our country is compromised at the behest of pandering for US aid and a reflection of how Ramaphosa is willing to embarrass the country to the world as a result of a dependency syndrome,” said the party.

ALSO READ: Expropriation Bill strains ANC and DA’s GNU alliance

The EFF said it was clear Musk was using his relationship with Trump to introduce his satellite company, Starlink, without following the 30% local ownership legislation.

It also opens the door to state capture, argued the EFF.

“This unprecedented conduct by a sitting president to break diplomatic protocols by telephonically lobbying an unelected billionaire who is hellbent on influencing the policies of our government has the potential to open the door for state capture,” it said.

Ramaphosa to have more engagements

Magwenya said the phone call was just the beginning of engagements on the issue.

“There will be more engagements, not only with the Trump administration and influential figures such as Musk, currently in the US, but other role players as well in the US. We’re still hoping Trump will visit South Africa ahead of the G20 summit when we get that final round of heads of state.

“We need to explain to the US counterparts that in our legal framework we do not have any provisions that allow government to act arbitrarily, we don’t even have executive orders, the president does not have executive orders. What the president can and cannot do is clearly laid out in the Constitution.”

READ NEXT: Land expropriation: Almost 90% of claimants choose money instead of property