South Africa’s Ramaphosa takes AI pitch to Musk's turf
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The News South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to land in California this weekend for a week-long push to court billions in American AI infrastructure investment. The roadshow will throw him into the backyard of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, whose regulatory clash with Pretoria is at the center of a widening diplomatic rift with Washington. Ramaphosa is likely to face questions about domestic ownership rules which Musk, who was raised in South Africa, has slammed as “openly racist” and cited as the reason his Starlink satellite-internet venture does not operate in Africa’s biggest economy. The working visit, which kicks off on Monday at Semafor’s Silicon Valley & the World summit, unfolds against a deepening diplomatic row as Washington steps up pressure against Pretoria over everything from race policies to its foreign policy choices. South Africa was recently also removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act preferential trade program. US Ambassador L. Brent Bozell III warned in recent weeks that South Africa’s mandatory local equity ownership transfers under Black Economic Empowerment laws, a policy designed to address dispossessions caused by South Africa’s racist past, are holding back “billions with a B” in American capital. Ramaphosa, whose itinerary includes meetings with Google, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, and Microsoft, is bringing eight cabinet ministers, including his finance, trade, energy, and communications chiefs — in a bid to capture a slice of America’s $650 billion AI capital expenditure this year. Speaking to the press ahead of the trip, Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya said South Africa aims to court American capital while firmly “safeguarding digital sovereignty, policy autonomy, data protection, and responsible AI governance.” The BEE controversy Under South Africa’s BEE rules, companies in regulated sectors like telecoms and mining must hand at least 30% of their local ownership to Black people to secure operating licenses — a redress policy that prompted Bozell to say that “time for dialogue has ended” after South Africa failed to meet US demands for regulatory reforms, and executive condemnation of inflammatory political rhetoric. The stand-off has triggered US visa restrictions on unspecified South African officials deemed responsible for “government sponsored discrimination,” led Washington to pull PEPFAR funding to the country, which poured $8 billion into treating the world’s largest HIV/AIDS caseload over two decades, as well as the AGOA ejection. In this article: Tiisetso’s view Ramaphosa’s flight to California deliberately skips a potentially frosty reception in Washington. The itinerary, which starts off at Semafor’s inaugural Silicon Valley & The World summit, tells you everything you need to know about Pretroia’s game plan. It is a bold geopolitical arbitrage, an attempt by Pretoria to wall off diplomatic tensions to chase a slice of billions of dollars in AI spending. Pretoria has reasons to believe US boardrooms can look past Washington’s hostility. To start with, boardrooms seem to have a high tolerance for political noise when the economics make sense, if what has been happening in the background is anything to go by. The value of trade between these two countries rose in 2025, industrial giants such aluminum producer Alcoa and transportation behemoth Wabtec keep writing checks despite tariffs, visa curbs, and Bozell’s warning that billions in investment are frozen over South African domestic policies. Next week, we will find out if commerce can keep outrunning politics. Room for Disagreement Sakeliga, a pro-business lobby group, took South Africa’s telecoms regulator to court, arguing that forcing companies to hand over 30% of their local equity to obtain a license acts as a hard barrier to entry that shuts out global players like Starlink. Notable - SpaceX has floated a $110 million local infrastructure commitment alongside hundreds of millions rand in free satellite broadband for rural schools as an alternative to handing over its local equity to Black South Africans.
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