South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken with popular tech figure, Elon Musk, over the phone, on the subject of misinformation about the country. According to a statement by the presidency on X today, Ramaphosa and Musk had spoken “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, fairness and equality,” the tweet concluded.
This follows a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump that. he would suspend aid to the country over its land reform policy. Trump had accused South Africa of confiscating land and badly treating “certain classes of people”. Ramaphosa responded on Monday that the government had not confiscated any land and the policy was aimed at ensuring equitable public access to land.
South African-born billionaire Musk, who is close to Trump, had waded into the dispute on Monday with a post on X accusing South Africa of having “openly racist ownership laws”, suggesting white people were the victims.

But, this is not the first time President Cyril Ramaphosa has held talks with Elon Musk.
Recall that five months ago, Elon Musk’s satellite service company, Starlink held talks with the South African government to introduce the satellite service in the country. President Ramaphosa told reporters that he held talks with the company over potential investments.
“I have had discussions with him and have said, Elon, you become so successful and you’re investing in a variety of countries, I want you to come home and invest here,” Ramaphosa told reporters in Pretoria. “He and I are going to have a further discussion.”
There hasn’t yet been an update on the outcome of the discussion.
According to TechCentral, President Ramaphosa pointed out that Starlink approached for talks. A spokesman for Starlink didn’t respond to an earlier request for comment. Analysts are hopeful that as it was with Zimbabwe, meeting with the nation’s president will lead to an eventual launch in South Africa soon.
South Africa is one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t have an estimated in-service date. “Service date is unknown at this time,” according to an official map showing Starlink’s global launch plans as of press time. It was reported in April that Starlink is not going to work in South Africa because the company didn’t want to share ownership with locals as per the government’s requirements.


Starlink refused to comply with the country’s BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) requirements to gift 30% ownership to local historically disadvantaged people. Also, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and the Minister of Communications have failed to issue new communications licences in about 13 years.
Icasa says it has not received any application for a licence from Starlink, nor has the company approached the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies (DCDT), according to a report.
Ironically, Icasa has not yet enacted its new regulations, leaving the future of Starlink in South Africa uncertain. The delay and confusion surrounding these regulations may have rendered Starlink’s withdrawal unnecessary.
Other countries in the region with published forecast go-live dates include Mauritius (sometime in 2025), Angola, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (2025), Comoros (2025) and the Seychelles (2025).