You cannot get past White House doors if you don't speak to Musk about Starlink: Expelled South Africa envoy

First Post

26-05-2025

In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, former South African Ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool gave his take on Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other prominent South Africans' influence over the Donald Trump administration read more
US President Donald Trump's billionaire adviser, Elon Musk, says he has 'done enough' in four months of the second term of the Republican leader in the White House. Musk is effectively cutting back on his involvement in the Trump administration. However, he continues to wield immense influence in the White House, says the South African envoy whom the US recently declared a persona non grata, expelling him.
Commenting on Tesla CEO Elon Musk's influence on the current administration of US President Donald Trump, former South African envoy to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, said that one cannot get into the White House before speaking to Musk about Starlink. The remarks from the ambassador came in an exclusive conversation with Firstpost's Bhagyasree Sengupta.
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Rasool was brought into the middle of the ongoing diplomatic row between South Africa and the US after he was expelled from Washington, DC, for saying that Trump is 'mobilising a supremism ' and trying to project 'white victimhood as a dog whistle'.
The Trump administration has been accusing South Africa of committing genocide against White farmers in the country. Not only this, but both Trump and Musk called out the new land law in the country, which is formerly known as the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024. The law allows the government to seize land, including property and infrastructure, for public purposes or in the public interest.
Shortly after Rasool's expulsion , South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid a visit to the White House with a delegation from the country. However, his meeting with the Potus also ended on a rocky note after Trump paraded images and videos of what he claimed was proof of White genocide. During the meeting, a South African billionaire was sitting and witnessing it unfold. That billionaire was none other than SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
I have been targeted by South Africans in Trump's inner circle: Rasool
When asked about his expulsion from Washington, DC, Ambassador Rasool said it was already in the making right when he was announced as the envoy. 'So it was a fix in the making. From the time that I was announced as ambassador to the United States in South Africa, which was in November already, I only landed and got credentialed in the US in January. But from the moment it was announced, there had been a campaign against me because of the position I took on the hijacks by Israel and fighting racism in South Africa,' he told Firstpost.
Rasool had been one of the few diplomats who had openly condemned Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip. Not only this, it was South Africa that moved the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing genocide . In light of this, before Rasool arrived in Washington, the case had already ruffled some feathers in the US.
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South Africa's expelled ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, speaks upon his arrival at the airport. Source: Reuters
In the interview, Rasool claimed that he is being targeted by South Africans within Trump's inner circle and the 'Israeli lobby' as well. 'I'd been targeted by, amongst others, South Africans in the inner circle of the Trump administration. I was targeted by AIPAC, the lobby. It was going to be a very tenuous situation to represent Africa against these kinds of odds,' he said.
Rasool received a grand welcome when he came back home after the expulsion. While speaking to Firstpost, the South African envoy made it clear that he wears the expulsion 'like a badge of honour'.
The Musk effect
When asked about Elon Musk's influence within the Trump administration, Rasool insisted that one cannot get past the White House doors before speaking to Musk about his satellite internet service company, Starlink . 'He [Musk] wants to sell Starlink to India. He wants to sell it to South Africa. He wants to sell it all over the world,' the South African envoy said.
'It is very clear that you cannot get past the White House if you don't start speaking to Musk about Starlink. That's why it was so clear that in the press conference with Trump, Starlink came up and so forth,' he said.
Rasool noted that Musk is not the only South African who has a strong influence within the Trump administration. 'I think that at the very least, there are four critical South Africans around Trump. Elon Musk is the most visible one,' he said.
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Elon Musk listens to US President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. File photo/Reuters
The South African envoy also mentioned that the former CEO of PayPal, Peter Thiel, also pulls his strings within the Trump administration. 'I think it's also very clear that there's a group from PayPal that is very active in the United States. They need the United States to compete with India, compete with China, and compete with Africa for critical minerals because the fourth industrial revolution needs critical minerals, rare earth elements, and so forth,' he said.
Rasool argued that it is the tech bosses who are requiring the United States to take over Greenland and drill for critical minerals. 'There's a very clear agenda that creates the method of madness, which we are seeing right now. Some key South Africans, like Peter Thiel and others, are around Trump, influencing him about the country. Much the same way, you have someone from South Africa, Cape Town, who wrote a book called The Myth of Diversity [David O. Sacks and Peter Thiel], which has now created this idea of an attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion,' he said.
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The ties between the US and South Africa went downhill after Trump signed an executive order pausing aid to the country. In the Firstpost interview, the Ambassador spoke further about the aid blockade, the deteriorating ties between the two nations and Trump's tendencies to target developing countries. Watch the full conversation on YouTube.