Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is the owner and CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, has accused EFF leader Julius Malema of prompting the genocide of white people in South Africa.
In a brief but heated back-and-forth on the social media platform on Monday evening, Musk condemned Malema for chanting the struggle song Kill the boer during the party’s 10th-anniversary rally at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
In a post on X, Musk bashed Malema for “openly pushing for the genocide of white people in South Africa”. He also questioned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s silence on the matter.
Addressing the outrage against the EFF and Malema, the party shared a statement published in August 2022 following a High Court ruling that dismissed a case by civil rights organisation AfriForum, which argued that Malema was guilty of inciting violence and hate speech by singing the controversial song.
In 2020, AfriForum lodged a complaint against Malema at the Equality Court to have the song declared hate speech and unfair discrimination.
After the ruling, the EFF statement read: “In a landmark judgment, the court ruled today that AfriForum failed to show that the song’s lyrics contravene the Equality Act or demonstrate a clear intention to harm or incitement. Furthermore, the court ruled that the song must be protected under the rubric of free speech, and debate around the song must be left to political contestation within society.”
“The court ruled that declaring the song hate speech would curtail freedom of expression. Therefore, the court dismissed that the song constitutes hate speech and ordered that AfriForum must pay the legal costs.”
AfriForum has since appealed the ruling and its case will be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in September. But others have come to Malema’s defence, with various X users lambasting Musk for condemning the singing of a struggle song.
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo shared a video of the late political activist Peter Mokaba, who also chanted the song and explained its significance.
The video places Malema and Mokaba side by side singing Kill the boer, with another clip of Mokaba explaining the song’s meaning, specifically the word “boer”.
“Even as we chanted these slogans during the armed struggle, they never drove us to the houses of the whites or the farmers as farmers, as individuals, to kill them. Now, what has changed?”
EFF head of international relations Godrich Gardee also joined the conversation, accusing Musk of attempting to twist history.
He wrote: “You know that it is a heritage liberation struggle song as old as the fight against white supremacy and the racist apartheid government of whites pre-1994. You are a revisionist who twists history to feed into the frenzy of perpetuating white economic domination of Africans!”
On Monday, the DA said it would report Malema and the ANC to the UN Human Rights Council. DA leader John Steenhuisen said that the party would be opening charges against Malema for inciting violence and civil war. Meanwhile, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald opened a criminal case against Malema on Monday.
