South Africa’s Ramaphosa takes AI pitch to Musk's turf

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to travel to California over the weekend to negotiate with American tech giants for billions in investment in AI infrastructure. The visit, which begins on Monday at the Silicon Valley & The World summit, coincides with a growing diplomatic dispute between Washington and Pretoria. Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a South African native, has criticized South Africa's local ownership rules under the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws, claiming they are "openly racist."

These rules require companies in regulated sectors such as telecoms and mining to allocate at least 30% of their local ownership to Black people. Ramaphosa will be accompanied by eight cabinet ministers, including leaders from the finance, trade, energy, and communications ministries, as he reaches out to companies like Google, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, and Microsoft.

The president's spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, emphasized that South Africa aims to attract American capital while preserving "digital sovereignty, policy autonomy, data protection, and responsible AI governance." The ongoing disagreement has led to US visa restrictions on certain South African officials, the suspension of PEPFAR funding, and the loss of AGOA trade preferences.

Despite the political hurdles, Ramaphosa believes that American companies may overlook these issues given the potential for lucrative investments.