Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, has called Elon Musk’s claims about South Africa’s “race laws” false.
This follows Musk’s criticism of Ramaphosa for dismissing “white genocide” claims in a recent New York Times interview.
Ramaphosa stated there is no white genocide or land-grabbing targeting white South Africans, calling US President Donald Trump “uninformed.”
“I just thought that he is so uninformed, truly uninformed. I realised that he is looking at South Africa through a completely, sort of, foggy lens. Without realising the real, real harm that Apartheid did. In my view, he was just dismissive,” the president said during the interview.
South African President on Trump’s Oval Office ‘Ambush’ and ‘Racist’ Policies https://t.co/2gNSp9yMNE #newspapers #feedly
— Marijke van der Lee (@anamafalda1992) March 5, 2026
“There’s no white genocide, and there is no grabbing of land, of white people’s land. And white farmers are not being driven out of the country and badly treated.”
Elon Musk took to X to reply to a tweet by a US conservative commentator who had criticised Ramaphosa and said that South Africa now has more anti-white laws than anti-black laws under Apartheid, likely reflecting frustration with regulations affecting his Starlink service.
In which the NYT allows the South African President to spew factually incorrect statements:
“There’s no white genocide and there is no grabbing of land, of white people’s land,” Mr. Ramaphosa told The Times. “And white farmers are not being driven out of the country and badly…
— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) March 5, 2026
“There are now more anti-White and anti other race laws in South Africa than there were anti-Black laws under Apartheid!,”
But Magwenya rejected Musk’s claims, noting that Musk’s father, Errol Musk, lives comfortably in South Africa and has praised the country as one of the best places to live.
No matter how many times a lie is repeated, regardless of who peddles it, it will always be a lie. https://t.co/2L8hIrv3m8
— Vincent Magwenya 🇿🇦 (@SpokespersonRSA) March 5, 2026
Even let’s his father live in that same country. 🙄
— Vincent Magwenya 🇿🇦 (@SpokespersonRSA) March 6, 2026
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
