South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed claims that white citizens in the country are facing persecution, calling it a “completely false narrative.” His statement comes in response to repeated claims by former U.S. President Donald Trump, White House advisor Elon Musk, and certain white minority groups.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, once again accused the country’s Black-led government of being hostile toward white citizens. Over the weekend, he posted on social media that some political figures in South Africa were “actively promoting white genocide.”
In his weekly address to the nation, Ramaphosa urged South Africans not to be swayed by external influences.
“We should not allow events beyond our shores to divide us or turn us against each other,” he stated. “In particular, 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.”
Although Ramaphosa did not mention specific names, his remarks appeared to counter claims by Trump and others that the South African government is mistreating the white Afrikaner minority by permitting violent attacks on their farms and implementing land seizure policies.
These claims played a role in Trump’s decision last month to sign an executive order cutting U.S. funding to South Africa while granting Afrikaners refugee status in the U.S.
Afrikaners, who are descended from Dutch and French colonial settlers, played a key role in the apartheid regime that oppressed nonwhite South Africans. However, since apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa has largely focused on racial reconciliation.
Musk’s Claims Linked to EFF’s Rally
Musk’s recent comments were linked to a political rally last Friday, where members of the far-left opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), sang a controversial song with lyrics that include “Kill the Boer, the farmer.” The term “Boer” refers to Afrikaners.
Musk claimed in his post that “very few people know there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide,” sharing a video of the rally.
The EFF, South Africa’s fourth-largest party, holds 9.5% of seats in Parliament and is a political rival of Ramaphosa’s African National Congress. The party has faced previous scrutiny for racial rhetoric, and its use of the song has been a topic of legal debate. While a court initially ruled the song as hate speech over a decade ago, a 2022 ruling determined it was protected under free speech, as there was no direct evidence it incited violence.
Since Trump’s executive order, the South African government has worked to counter what it describes as misinformation regarding attacks on white farmers. While such attacks do occur, experts say they are part of South Africa’s overall high crime rates rather than a targeted campaign against whites.
A group representing Afrikaners has claimed that police data may underreport farm-related homicides. It cited figures showing eight farm murders between October and December last year, while police records only accounted for one. However, national crime data from that period recorded a total of 6,953 homicides across South Africa, underscoring the country’s broader violent crime problem.