MALEMA BERATES RAMAPHOSA OVER MUSK MEETING

Parliamentary affairs in South Africa are rarely dull, with this being no exception.

Listen to a fuming MP, Julius Malema, president of the Economic Freedom Fighter (@effsouthafrica), chide South African President Cyril Ramaphosa over his 3 February phone call with Elon Musk, a South Africa-born tech billionaire who is a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump. Malema (@julius_s_malema on X, @julius.malema.sello on IG) said the call, as well as a reported meeting in a hotel room in September outside the UN General Assembly, was outside official diplomatic channels and undermined South Africa.

In response, Ramaphosa said it was impossible not to engage with specific figures and that he keeps his colleagues abreast of developments.

South Africa has been in the White House’s crosshairs since Trump learned of a new South African law that expropriates land to address long-standing inequities in a country where the white minority, making up less than 8 per cent of the population, owns more than 70 per cent of private farmland. European settlers in South Africa ran across the Atlantic to get support to pressure South Africa’s government. It seems to have worked, as so far, Trump has cut HIV/AIDS funding to South Africa and offered refugee status to South African white settlers. Plus, a US congressman, Andy Ogles, is calling for the removal of South Africa from a US duty-free trade initiative for 'sub-Saharan' African countries called the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act.

Video credit: @newslivesa (X) / @ParliamentofRSA (X)

Sources

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/world/south-africa-ramaphosa-musk-intl/index.html 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9w4n6gp5o 

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/look-afriforum-meets-trumps-administration-in-the-us-pleads-for-help-to-change-ancs-radical-views-4aa113f9-b86d-44af-b61b-3864f219cd29 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-signs-executive-order-aimed-south-africa-white-house-official-says-2025-02-07/ 

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/us-congressman-calls-for-south-africa-s-agoa-expulsion-amid-racial-controversy/ar-AA1ACnZT 

https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-south-africa-funding-cut-aid-adf4db9dfe9eeafa3f4bac79b3d77137

https://www.ewn.co.za/2025/03/11/theres-nothing-sinister-about-speaking-directly-to-businesspeople-like-musk-ramaphosa