Madar (International) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead a multi-stakeholder delegation on a working visit to California from 15 to 21 November 2026, focused on artificial intelligence, Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya announced on Thursday, 12 November 2026, according to the government news agency SAnews.
Briefing the media at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, he said the visit aims to learn from leading AI institutions, weigh the technology's risks and challenges, attract investment and inform South Africa's AI policy, regulation and skills planning. It will provide "an opportunity to learn from countries and institutions at the forefront of AI development," he said.
The delegation includes the ministers of Finance; International Relations and Cooperation; Science, Technology and Innovation; Trade, Industry and Competition; Communications and Digital Technologies; Electricity and Energy; Small Business Development; and the Presidency, along with officials, business leaders, start-up founders, students, academics, researchers and legal experts.
According to the announced programme, the delegation will attend a Semafor event on 16 November, visit Stanford University on 17 November to meet investors and AI faculty and tour a robotics lab, and hold a workshop in San Jose on 18 November titled "South Africa and the Future of AI".
On 19 November it will visit Alphabet (Google) and Cisco in Mountain View, and on 20 November Palo Alto Networks and the Microsoft Experiential Centre in Santa Clara, with a focus on cyber resilience and digital sovereignty.
A gathering themed "Building the African AI Economy: Infrastructure, Investment and Innovation" will cover data centres, computing capacity and energy supply. The Presidency cited estimates that leading hyperscalers plan about $650 billion in AI capital expenditure in 2026, and that AI venture capital investment reached $259 billion in 2025, three-quarters of it in the United States.
South Africa seeks to harness AI while "safeguarding digital sovereignty, policy autonomy," Magwenya said, keeping decisions in the national interest.
