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

Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, has frequently accused its government of enacting “racist ownership laws” and failing to prevent what he has described as a “genocide” against white farmers. Last week, he directly challenged South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on X, asking, “Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?”

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.

Trump signed an executive order to cut U.S. aid to South Africa, which provided for U.S. resettlement of some "victims of racial discrimination."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday promoting the resettlement of a portion of South Africa's white minority known as Afrikaners to the United States, but groups representing them made it clear on Saturday that they aren't going anywhere.

Elon Musk is reconnecting with his country of birth. In recent weeks, he has rustled up a global right-wing panic over South Africa’s land ownership laws and affirmative action policies, culminating in Donald Trump issuing an executive order ending the United States’ financial assistance to South Africa and welcoming ethnic Afrikaners,