Ramaphosa engages tech billionaire Elon Musk in US

President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday met with South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk, in New York, behind closed doors.

According to a report by national broadcaster SABC, the president later described the meeting with Musk, the world’s richest man, as “positive”.

Ramaphosa is leading a South African delegation to the 79th Session of the United Nations General Debate and High-Level Week in New York, from 21-24 September 2024.

While in New York, the president also engaged business leaders as part of a drive to attract foreign direct investment into South Africa.

He also addressed the SA-US Interactive Business Forum at the New York Stock Exchange, and delivered a keynote address during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding.

Musk is known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the electric vehicle company Tesla. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp, the company that operates the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

“We had a good meeting,” said Ramaphosa, shaking hands with Musk in the SABC clip. “Absolutely,” the tech billionaires responded.

The meeting with Musk comes as South Africa eagerly awaits the launch of Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service in the country.

With Starlink already launching in SA’s Southern African peers, there’s been a lot of noise questioning why the satellite-based internet service has yet to be launched in the tech billionaire's country of birth. 

Starlink is a low-Earth orbit satellite internet constellation operated by Musk’s SpaceX, providing satellite internet access coverage to over 60 countries. SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites in 2019.

Although Starlink is available in Botswana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia, South Africans have been waiting for the service since 2021. Starlink's own online coverage map shows the date for the service’s availability in the country as “unknown”.

Amid the uncertainty, earlier this month, Ramaphosa reportedly said there was progress in talks with Musk.

According to BusinessDay, the president told editors: “I have had discussions with him and have said, ‘Elon, you [have] become so successful and you’re investing in a variety of countries, I want you to come home and invest here’.”

Ramaphosa added: “He and I are going to have a further discussion.”

In a recent interview with ITWeb TV, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) chairman, Mothibi Ramusi, said the regulator has yet to receive a formal application from Starlink for its services to operate in the country.

“When we issue those licences, there are specific conditions. There are issues in this country when you talk about black empowerment, to an extent that there's a 30% BEE requirement – it’s a policy,” said Ramusi in the interview.

Musk recently posted on X that Starlink is “waiting for regulatory approval” in South Africa.

Last November, ICASA stated that Starlink does not have a licence to operate in the country, warning of the “illegal” provision of satellite internet services through Starlink terminals in SA and some entities distributing its products in the country.