President Cyril Ramaphosa and billionaire businessman Johann Rupert have called on the US to assist with technology-driven reinforcements to help arrest SA’s escalating crime levels.
Ramaphosa and his delegation − comprised of several Cabinet ministers, the businessman, two pro-golfers and Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi – yesterday met with US president Donald Trump and his contingent, which included South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The high-stakes meeting in the Oval Office in Washington DC was part of a broader mission by the South African delegation to reset and strengthen relations with the US, its second biggest trading partner.
During the televised meeting, an impromptu video montage of EFF leader Julius Malema and former president Jacob Zuma chanting the infamous “kill the Boer” song was shown, to drive the US claims of a white genocide in SA. Trump also held up printed media reports pointing to “deaths” of Afrikaner farmers.
President Trump has halted US funding to SA, amid allegations that land is being confiscated and white farmers are being deliberately targeted and killed.
The issuing of an operating licence to Musk’s Starlink is another contentious issue in the frosty relations between the US and SA.
During what is now being described by commentators and media as an orchestrated ambush plagued by falsified claims, Ramaphosa, together with some in his delegation, tried to push back on this false narrative, explaining that crime affects all racial groups. He also shifted the focus to SA’s need for technological development.
Ramaphosa stated: “The criminality that we are experiencing in our country needs quite a lot of technological capability and in one of our areas in South Africa, we’re using US technology, which is able to identify where shootings are happening.
“There is support that we can get from you as the United States to help us deal with all these acts of criminality and that is what I believe partnership is all about, and we are here as a partner, so that we can help each other whenever there are challenges.”
Rupert also tried to counter the US narrative, expressing that South Africa has too many deaths and that it was “across the board”. “It’s not only white farmers,” he said. “We need technological help, we need Starlink at every local police station, and we need drones.
“I got drones donated for the peace parks to stop elephant and rhino poaching, and his predecessor [Zuma] stopped the importation because he said the United States would spy on us. If you can help us…to stop these awful killings but it’s across the board.”
Starlink coming to SA?
Following the meeting, SA’s presidential delegation hosted a media engagement to reflect on the outcomes in the Oval Office.
As per the reason for the meeting, which was to reset US-SA relations, SA presented a new trade and investment framework to the US.
Asked if Starlink was part of the package or behind the scenes discussion over lunch, Ramaphosa said: “It’s part of the package we’re talking about; of creating an environment for investments to take place. We want US companies to invest in South Africa, we want foreign direct investments (FDI).
“We have to create a conducive environment for FDI. Where, in the past, we attracted US companies and utilised regulatory frameworks; instead of BEE [black economic empowerment] compliance we could have equity equivalence. US companies have embraced that and shows they are willing to go along with our regulatory framework.”
He said many other countries use a variety of ways to attract FDI. For example, Tesla negotiated to locate a gigafactory in China, even though it initially went against regulations about local investment partners there, said the president. “The Chinese dispensed with that and allowed Tesla to be a sole company and build a car manufacturing gigafactory in China. The Chinese crafted their own regulatory framework and came up with a creative way for the investment to take place. They wanted to bring in an investor and create jobs in China. Similarly with us, there’s nothing wrong for South Africa in the past, to have created an equity equivalence provision, as it has allowed many companies – Amazon, Google, Microsoft – that have utilised the same type of dispensation.”
Ramaphosa added that this had to take place even though the regulatory frameworks were not “consistent with our great intentions”.
On the subject of communications minister Solly Malatsi allegedly having issued an equity equivalence (EE) gazette to Starlink, he said Malatsi will “analyse the regulations of the Communications Act's intentions and how best to make them consistent with what we have done in the other sectors. It falls within the realm of how to make the environment conducive to get investors to come.” Ramaphosa said it was part of regulatory reform that the government was looking at.
Musk, who forms part of Trump’s inner circle, has often criticised SA’s BEE policies, claiming they were racially discriminatory, after regulatory hurdles linked to BEE compliance affected Starlink's licensing in the country.
Starlink remains unavailable in South Africa.
Taking to his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Musk last week said: “South Africa has now passed 142 laws forcing discrimination against anyone who is not black. Even though I was born in South Africa, the government will not grant @Starlink a licence to operate simply because I am not black.”
According to Ramaphosa, Musk was part of the lunch that followed the meeting, where discussion was on Tesla. He stated that Musk wants to import Tesla cars into SA, and the import tariffs around electric vehicles was a discussion point to be had with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.
Trade and industry minister Parks Tau, who was part of the delegation, said there were at least 10 US companies that had used EE, which was a regime created for foreign companies that did not want to give up ownership. Tau cited Ford and Citibank as being beneficiaries of this.
Tau said that following the previous meeting between himself, Ramaphosa and Musk, the South African delegation was continuing to pursue Tesla as an original equipment manufacturer, with some production facilities in SA.
He said Musk’s response last year was previously muted, but Musk seemed more open to the idea yesterday.
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