Cyril Ramaphosa and Elon Musk Meet: Key topics of their discussion
On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa had a closed-door meeting in New York with South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk.
President Cyril Ramaphosa held a private meeting with South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk in New York on Monday.
According to a report by national broadcaster SABC, the president later described the meeting with Musk, the world’s richest man, as “positive”.
Elon Musk, 53, was born in Pretoria.
As per the Presidency’s official X page, the discussion explored opportunities for Musk to invest in South Africa.
Attract foreign investment into South Africa
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.
According to ITWeb, 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 video.
“Absolutely,” the tech billionaires responded.
South Africans waiting for Elon Musk’s Starlink
The meeting with Musk comes as South Africans eagerly await the launch on Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service in the country.
With Starlink already launching in a number of South Africa’s neighbouring countries – and the rest of Africa – 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.
Although Starlink is available in Botswana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia, South Africans have been waiting – and waiting.
Starlink’s own online coverage map shows the date for the service’s availability in the country as “unknown”.