Elon Musk and “Kill the Boer”: His Claim, and What the Chant Actually Is
Since July 2023, Elon Musk has repeatedly told his audience that a South African political party is openly calling for the genocide of white people, and that white farmers are being killed daily as a result.
The chant he is referring to is real, and it has been litigated in South African courts for fifteen years. Three courts have now ruled on whether it constitutes incitement. Separately, South Africa’s own crime statistics are published quarterly and can be checked. This page sets out what he said, what the song is, what the courts found, and what the numbers show.
What the song is
“Dubul’ ibhunu” is an anti-apartheid struggle song. The lyrics are largely a repetition of the title — variously rendered as “shoot the Boer” or “kill the Boer” — with the Boer described as cowards and dogs. “Boer” literally means farmer in Afrikaans; since the nineteenth-century Anglo-Boer wars it has also meant Afrikaner, and in struggle-era usage it was widely applied to the apartheid state and its police.
The historian Thula Simpson has described the songs of that period as “part of the theatre of mass insurrection”. Malema first sang it publicly in 2010, while still in the ANC.
On 29 July 2023, at a rally in Johannesburg marking the tenth anniversary of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Malema led the chant from the stage, pointing his finger like a gun. Video of it spread rapidly, amplified by the American commentator Benny Johnson.
What Musk posted
Two days later, Musk responded to the video, addressing South Africa’s president directly:
“They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa. @CyrilRamaphosa, why do you say nothing?”
Over the following days he turned to the Anti-Defamation League, pressing it repeatedly to condemn Malema — on 4 August asking why it was saying nothing, and on 8 August:
“They absolutely mean literal genocide. Why are organizations like @ADL silent?”
The ADL subsequently stated that the song could be seen as a call for violence.
He returned to the subject in February 2025, calling for Malema to be sanctioned:
“Immediate sanctions for Malema and declaration of him as an international criminal!”
And again in March 2025, sharing footage of Malema singing at a rally, describing a major political party as actively promoting white genocide and objecting to “a whole arena chanting about killing white people”. Donald Trump shared a screenshot of that post on Truth Social.
Malema’s response
Malema replied to Musk’s first post with a two-word Sepedi expletive. At a press conference in Johannesburg on 2 August 2023 he said Musk looked illiterate and was protected only by his white skin. He has consistently maintained, in interviews and in court, that the song is not a literal instruction — while also using the qualifier “at least for now”, which Musk has cited as evidence of intent.
“I will never kill white people. Why should I kill them? They have done nothing to me.”
The EFF’s position, via spokesperson Sinawo Thambo, is that Musk does not understand South African history and that his comments rest on a misreading of the country’s political discourse.
What the courts decided
This is the part most commonly left out. The question of whether this specific song, sung by this specific man, constitutes hate speech has been before South African courts since 2010, and the answer has changed.
So the position under South African law, as of the highest court to consider it, is that Malema’s performance of this song is protected political expression rather than incitement. That is a legal finding about this song and these performances. It is not a finding that the song is harmless, and AfriForum continues to dispute it.
The ruling that went the other way
On 27 August 2025 the Western Cape Equality Court found Malema and the EFF guilty of hate speech — but for different words, from a 2022 provincial rally, in which he told supporters they must never be scared to kill and that killing is part of a revolutionary act. The court held this singled out white males by race and risked inciting racial violence. The EFF said the judgment misread revolutionary rhetoric and vowed to appeal.
What the numbers show
The genocide claim is testable, because South Africa publishes crime statistics quarterly and the organisations campaigning on farm murders publish their own. Both sets point the same way.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Murders nationally | 25,423 |
| Murders on agricultural land (farms, plots, smallholdings) | 358 |
| Of those, victims classified as part of the farming community | 42 |
| Source: SAPS annual crime statistics, released May 2025 (source 07). | |
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Farm murders in the quarter | 6 |
| Farm owners killed — both African, not white | 2 |
| Farm employees and manager killed — all African | 3 |
| Farm dwellers killed — white | 1 |
| Source: statement by the Police Minister, May 2025 (source 06). SAPS does not ordinarily categorise crime statistics by race; the breakdown was provided in response to genocide claims. | |
The figures published by organisations sympathetic to white farmers are of the same order. AfriForum recorded 49 farm murders in 2023/24 — 0.2% of the 27,621 murders nationally that year — and 296 farm attacks, 0.7% of 42,206 robberies. The Transvaal Agricultural Union’s own long-run tally records 2,299 farm murder victims across all categories and races between 1990 and 2025.
Al Jazeera, reviewing the AfriForum and TAU figures in March 2025, put the annual rate at roughly 60 farmers killed across all races, in a country recording around 19,000 murders a year.
What the investigations found about motive
Two formal inquiries examined whether farm attacks formed part of a political campaign to drive white farmers off their land. Neither found evidence for it, and no credible police or private investigation since has. The Institute for Security Studies records the motive in farm murders as almost always robbery, with some cases arising from labour disputes or domestic violence.
The strongest genuine grievance in this area is not genocide but impunity. AfriForum’s own research found convictions in only 66 of 1,402 farm attack and farm murder incidents recorded by police between 2019 and 2022 — a conviction rate of 4.7%. That is a serious failure of policing, and it is a different claim from the one Musk is making.
What the court rulings do and do not establish
The Constitutional Court’s refusal of leave to appeal concerns whether Malema’s singing met the legal threshold for hate speech. It is not a ruling about farm murders, farm safety, or whether rural South Africans are adequately protected — none of which were before the court.
Equally, the fact that farm murders are a small fraction of national homicides does not mean rural crime is not a serious problem. It means the specific claim of a genocide is not supported by the data.
May 2025: the claim reaches the Oval Office
On 21 May 2025, at a White House meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Donald Trump presented material intended to evidence a white genocide in South Africa. It included video footage of what was described as a mass funeral for white victims of farm attacks, showing a long line of white crosses.
That footage was not a funeral. It was from a 2020 protest by agricultural organisations highlighting concerns about murders on farms.
Sources
- After Musk prods, ADL says ‘Kill the Boer’ song can be seen as a call for violenceThe Times of Israel / JTA · August 2023
- Elon Musk has his say over Malema’s ‘Kill the Boer’ furoreJacaranda FM · July 2023
- South Africa: Musk Calls for Sanctions Against MalemaAllAfrica · 9 February 2025
- ‘Kill the Boer’: The anti-apartheid song Musk ties to ‘white genocide’Al Jazeera · 26 March 2025
- ConCourt denies AfriForum leave to appeal ‘Kill the Boer’ rulingNews24 · 27 March 2025
- More farm murder victims are African, Police MinisterSAnews (South African government) · May 2025
- SA’s murder crisis: the numbers are real, the genocide claims are notPolity · 23 May 2025
- Violent crime and the myth of South Africa’s ‘white genocide’Institute for Security Studies · 26 May 2025
- AfriForum and Julius Malema clash in Supreme Court of AppealIOL · September 2023 · covers the 2011 Lamont ruling
- EFF vows to challenge hate speech judgment against MalemaCentral News · 27 August 2025
- South Africa’s Malema found guilty of hate speech over 2022 rally remarksAllAfrica · August 2025
- #StopFarmMurders — AfriForum campaign dataAfriForum · primary campaign source
- Analysis of farm murders 1990–2025 (PDF)TAU SA / TLU SA · primary dataset
- Elon Musk raises the specter of ‘white genocide’The Washington Post · 1 August 2023
- Musk called ‘illiterate’ over South Africa genocide claimMalay Mail / AFP · 2 August 2023
This article follows the standards set out in How This Site Sources Its Claims. If you believe anything on this page is inaccurate, please use our corrections policy and right of reply. Corrections are published, dated and logged.