South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday denied Elon Musk’s claim that white people are being persecuted in that country, calling it a “completely false narrative.”
Musk, a native of South Africa, drew attention to a political rally last Friday at which black leaders of a far-left opposition party sang a song that includes the lyrics “Kill the Boer, the farmer.”
“Boer” refers to an Afrikaner, a descendent of Dutch, French, and German immigrants in northern South Africa.
“Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X. “The video below was just yesterday. A whole arena chanting about killing white people.”
A month ago, South Africa passed an Expropriation Act, giving government scope to seize land from private parties under some conditions. The government aimed to address that white people make up around 7% of South Africa’s population, but own about 70% of the private farming land.
“Where is the outrage?” Musk asked on X. “Why is there no coverage by the legacy media? Starlink can’t get a license to operate in South Africa simply because I’m not black. How is that right?”
Starlink, one of Musk’s multibillion-dollar companies, provides internet to people who live in rural areas.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X on Monday evening that the song “is a chant that incites violence.”
The South African government denounced Musk’s claims.
Ramaphosa, 72 and president since February 2018, said in his weekly message to the nation that South Africans “should not allow events beyond our shores to divide us or turn us against each other.”
“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,” the African president said.