The South African-born billionaire Elon Musk raised his voice for the second time this week after a report in The New York Times appeared in which the singing of the song “Kill the Boer” is seemingly justified.
“The New York Times actually has the audacity to support calls for genocide,” wrote Musk, now known as X, on Twitter.
“If there was ever a time to cancel that publication, it is now.”
Earlier this week Musk wanted to pres. Cyril Ramaphosa knows why he says nothing about Julius Malema and thousands of his supporters who sang the song “Kill the Boer” during the EFF’s birthday celebrations at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
“They are openly campaigning for genocide against white people in South Africa,” he said then.
The New York Times actually has the nerve to support calls for genocide! If ever there was a time to cancel that publication, it is now.
You can read their articles for free anyway using https://t.co/2NjvMTsWmj. pic.twitter.com/ow11wxw7Ny
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2023
In The New York Times ‘s latest report on Malema’s chants quotes historians who say the song should not be taken literally.
Bongani Ngqulunga, a lecturer in political sciences at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), says in the report that during apartheid there were often songs about how people were going to march on Pretoria or how Nelson Mandela was going to be released from prison.
According to Ngqulunga, the people who sang these songs did not really intend to march on Pretoria. They also did not believe that Mandela would simply be released.
“It was a call to mobilize against an oppressive system.”
Similarly, says Ngqulunga, the song “Kill the Boer” is not sung with the aim of inciting violence against individual farmers.
Another South African historian, Nomalanga Mkhize, is included The New York Times ‘s report quoted about the song: “Young people feel that it spurs them on when they sing it today. I don’t think they mean it to cause any harm.”
Malema has also already said that it is a “struggle song” and that he will sing it “as and when” he feels like it.
The FF Plus said this week that it will report Malema to the Human Rights Commission. The DA plans to lodge a complaint with the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.
