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".

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to Elon Musk on the subject of misinformation about South Africa, the presidency said on Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would suspend aid to the country over its land reform policy.