When they were hit this week by a Donald Trump social media grenade, panicked South African officials turned to an unconventional diplomatic back channel.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Elon Musk a day after U.S. President Donald Trump promised to cut the country's funding over a land expropriation law.

Trump and his allies have targeted South Africa, promoting the false narrative that white people are being mistreated by the nation’s post-apartheid government.

Mr Musk is a close adviser to US President Donald Trump, who on Sunday threatened to cut all future funding to South Africa over allegations that it was confiscating land and "treating certain classes of people very badly". The South Africa-born tech billionaire joined in the criticism asking on X why Ramaphosa had "openly racist ownership laws".

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will cut all funding to South Africa over what he called a human rights violation, a move that reflects Elon Musk's repeated and false claims over the years that authorities in his country of birth are anti-white and even encouraging the killing of white people.

President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to Musk after Trump said he would suspend aid to the country over its land reform policy.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to respond to threats from U_S_ counterpart Donald Trump by saying in his annual speech to the nation that his country would “not be bullied.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Elon Musk after the South African-born billionaire joined President Donald Trump in criticizing the country’s new land-expropriation law.

South Africa “will not be bullied” by President Donald Trump, the leader of the nation declared in a national speech. President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged the United States government’s newfound hostility to South Africa’s domestic policies on Thursday during his State of the Union address — stating that his government and people will not buckle under