South African-born Elon Musk, who has regularly accused South Africa’s black-led government of being anti-white, repeated in a social media post this weekend that some political figures in the country are «actively promoting white genocide. «
In his weekly message to the nation, Ramaphosa said South Africans «should not allow external events to divide us or pit us against each other».
«In particular, we should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place where people of a certain race or culture are targeted for persecution.»
Ramaphosa did not name names, but his denial referred to allegations by Trump and others that South Africa is deliberately mistreating a white minority group known as Afrikaners by encouraging violent attacks on their farms and introducing legislation to seize their land.
These allegations were at the heart of an executive order issued by Trump last month, which cut funding to South Africa to punish the government while offering Afrikaners refugee status in the United States.
Afrikaners are descendants of Dutch and French settlers who arrived in South Africa over 300 years ago. They were at the heart of the apartheid government, which systematically oppressed non-whites, although South Africa largely succeeded in reconciling its many racial groups after the end of apartheid in 1994.
In his post on X, influential Trump adviser Musk cited a political rally last Friday in South Africa where Black leaders of a far-left opposition party sang a song with the lyrics: «Kill the Boer, the farmer .» Boer is a word for an Afrikaner.
«Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that actively promotes white genocide,» Musk wrote. He added a link to a video of the rally.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X late Monday that the song «is a chant that incites violence. South African leaders and politicians must take steps to protect Afrikaners and other disadvantaged minorities. The United States is proud to offer these people who qualify for admission to our country, despite this horrific threat of violence that continues.