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Ramaphosa flags ‘disinformation’ concerns in call with Musk after Trump’s false land reform claims

Ramaphosa flags ‘disinformation’ concerns in call with Musk after Trump’s false land reform claims
Victoria O’Regan
By Victoria O’Regan
5 Feb 2025
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In a call with South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to US President Donald Trump, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa ‘does not have racist ownership laws’ and raised concerns about Trump’s false claims.

Pretoria says it will continue engagements with US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and will clarify and respond to misinformation surrounding South Africa’s land reform policies.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said during a press conference on Ramaphosa’s programme in Parliament on Wednesday, that the long-standing relations between the two countries were strong enough to survive the recent furore over Trump’s false claim of land seizures. 

“The US is our second-largest trading partner. We have a long-standing strategic, political, trade, as well as cultural relationship – and it’s a relationship that we respect and it’s a relationship that has always been mutually beneficial. And it will continue being mutually beneficial,” Magwenya told journalists. 

“Therefore, where there are bumps, as we have recently experienced, it will always be in our interest to engage with various roleplayers within the leadership of the country.” 

Magwenya added: “We will get over the current bumps, we will clarify the issues that need to be clarified, and we will respond expeditiously to disinformation and mischaracterisation of our laws as well as the general state of our country, and in so doing we will engage all the relevant stakeholders and we will communicate our position publicly as we have done.”

On Sunday, Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, accused the South African government, without providing evidence, of “confiscating land” and “treating certain classes of people very badly”. He said he would arrest all future funding to South Africa pending an investigation. 

Ramaphosa responded on Monday that the government had not confiscated any land and the Expropriation Act was aimed at ensuring public access to land “in an equitable and just manner” as guided by South Africa’s Constitution.

Read more: The big lie of the land — Ramaphosa politely schools ‘terrible things’ Trump on SA’s land reform

Trump’s ally Musk then weighed in on the issue, accusing South Africa of having “openly racist ownership laws” on his platform X. 




Ramaphosa subsequently had a call with Musk in which they discussed “issues of misinformation and distortions about South Africa”, the Presidency said on Tuesday. 

Magwenya told journalists on Wednesday morning that Pretoria was particularly “perturbed” by Musk’s response to Ramaphosa on X. 

“Following President Trump’s announcement we issued a statement which was posted on X out of the President’s handle, as well as the Presidency handle. There was a response to that statement by Elon, and we were obviously perturbed by the substance of the announcement because there were clearly inaccuracies with respect to the reflection of the country and what was happening in the country,” he said.

“The X platform is a hugely influential platform. It’s owned by Elon Musk. The President has held engagements prior to this announcement with Elon Musk with the intention to see him invest more in South Africa.”

Magwenya said that in light of Musk’s response on X, “it was sensible and logical and quite important that the President engage with him, so that we reinforce his own understanding of what is happening in South Africa”. 

He said that, in the meeting between Ramaphosa and Musk, the President “flagged” his concerns with respect to the “disinformation” in the initial false claim of land seizures by Trump, but also with respect to Musk’s own response to Ramaphosa’s statement. 

Read more: ‘SA is violating rights, treating certain people badly’ – Trump’s words inadvertently echo fundamentals of apartheid

“The President was quite emphatic in saying South Africa does not have racist ownership laws. All our laws take their cue from our Constitution, and where they do not meet constitutional muster we have an independent judiciary that deals with those issues without any political interference whatsoever. And these are South Africa’s strengths, that we are going to be repeating over and over and over again – not only to the Trump administration but to others who may begin to have some form of doubt about the state of this country,” Magwenya said. 

“We are a country that respects the rule of law, and there are just certain things that we won’t do, and there are certain things that will never happen in South Africa.”

He said it was “important” for Ramaphosa and Musk to have this conversation so that this understanding is emphasised – “at least to benefit [Musk] but also, considering his influence within the Trump circle, for the President to deliver that message”. 


Ongoing engagements


Magwenya said Pretoria will continue to have engagements with stakeholders within the Trump administration. 

“Those engagements will take place at multiple levels,” he said. 

South African ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool has already “hit the ground running”, said Magwenya, and will be spearheading engagements at various levels of Trump’s administration. 

Read more: Time to mute ‘megaphone’ on Gaza — Ebrahim Rasool, SA’s new US ambassador

He said Pretoria is also hoping US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting on 20 February, in Johannesburg. 

“If he does not attend, we know that there will be a delegation of senior officials representing the State Department and the Trump administration which we will have an opportunity to engage with. And so, on the basis of that, those engagements will be ongoing.” 

Harsh words for AfriForum


Responding to questions from journalists on Wednesday, Magwenya had harsh words for the minority civil rights organisation AfriForum. 

AfriForum has previously criticised the Expropriation Act, announcing a three-point plan to fight the Act after Ramaphosa signed it into law last month. Following Trump’s claims on Sunday, the organisation said it would write to the US government, requesting that the “punitive measures” that Trump intends to introduce against South Africa “should rather target senior ANC leaders directly, and not South African residents”. 

“What AfriForum has adopted as a feature, is sowing racial divisions and sowing fear amongst the group of their supporters. And we will assert, they have done so successfully among a very small group of people. They have been loud enough to then find an ear within certain quarters in the US leadership establishment.

“But, for the President to invest time engaging them over something that they know over their deliberate behaviour to misrepresent our country; misrepresent the intent and the spirit of our laws – I’m not quite sure that will be the prudent use of the President’s time,” Magwenya said. 

“I will have my doubts about the efficacy of him [Ramaphosa] investing time in engaging with AfriForum, because there is nothing that they do not know about our Constitution.” DM

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