SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa has firmly rejected the growing claims that the country’s white population is being persecuted, calling it a ‘completely false narrative’ that threatens to sow division within the nation.
In his weekly address to the nation on Monday, Ramaphosa responded indirectly to recent allegations by US President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk, and white minority groups in South Africa, all of whom have accused the Black-led government of promoting anti-white sentiment.
‘We should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution,’ Ramaphosa said. He urged South Africans not to let ‘events beyond our shores’ divide the country.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that while Ramaphosa did not name anyone specifically, his remarks appeared to reference a weekend post by Musk on X (formerly Twitter). Musk claimed that certain South African political figures were ‘actively promoting white genocide’, a reference to a rally where members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) sang a controversial apartheid-era chant.
Musk and Trump reignite racial tensions
The chant in question—‘Kill the Boer, the farmer’—was heard at an EFF rally last Friday and prompted sharp criticism from Musk and others. ‘Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide,’ Musk posted, linking to a video of the rally.
Trump, meanwhile, recently signed an executive order slashing aid to South Africa and offered refugee status to members of the Afrikaner community. The AP reported that over 67,000 white South Africans expressed interest in this offer.
Afrikaners, mainly descended from Dutch and French settlers, were central to South Africa’s apartheid regime. Since the system’s end in 1994, the country has worked to reconcile its racially diverse population—though tensions have remained.
Legal battles over controversial chant
The EFF, South Africa’s fourth-largest political party, has long defended the controversial song as a symbol of anti-apartheid resistance. While it was previously banned as hate speech, a 2022 court ruling found it did not constitute incitement to violence and was thus protected by free speech laws.
The party has at times replaced the phrase with ‘kiss the Boer’, but critics, including opposition parties and Afrikaner advocacy groups, continue to condemn its use.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in on the matter this week, stating the chant ‘incites violence’ and calling on South African leaders to protect minority communities.
No evidence of racial targeting, says SA government
The South African government has responded by denouncing farm attacks and emphasising that violent crime affects all citizens, regardless of race. According to police statistics cited by the AP, 6,953 homicides were recorded across South Africa between October and December last year.
While Afrikaner groups argue that farm murders are underreported, government officials and analysts maintain there is no evidence of systematic targeting of white farmers. Experts suggest these crimes form part of South Africa’s broader and persistent violent crime problem.
Ramaphosa’s remarks come at a time of rising global scrutiny, fuelled by political rhetoric from abroad. He reiterated his administration’s commitment to social cohesion and warned against imported narratives that threaten South Africa’s democratic progress.
