South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to Elon Musk “on issues of misinformation and distortions about South Africa,” the presidency announced on Tuesday.
“In the process, the President reiterated South Africa’s constitutionally embedded values of the respect for the rule of law, justice, fairness and equality,” it said.
The presidency said the pair spoke on Monday, a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off aid to South Africa over the alleged mistreatment of White farmers in the country.
In a blistering post on Truth Social, Trump said he would halt funding until there was a full investigation into allegations that “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.”
Trump said “massive” human rights violations were happening in South Africa “for all to see,” without giving details or providing evidence.
Ramaphosa on Monday denied that South African authorities were “confiscating land” and said his country was looking forward to working with the Trump administration “over our land reform policy.”
Trump’s complaint, which he also made in 2018 during his first term in the White House, refers to South Africa’s complex land reform.
During South Africa’s apartheid era, racist policies forcefully removed Black and non-White South Africans from the land for White use. Since South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, there has been a land redistribution and restitution provision in the country’s constitution.
However, unemployment and poverty remain acute among Black South Africans, who make up around 80% of the population, yet own a fraction of the land.
Last month, Ramaphosa signed a bill into law providing new guidelines for land expropriation, including enabling the government to expropriate land without compensation in certain cases.
This is a developing story and will be updated.